I'm Not Okay
by xAlternativexMusicxGirlx
Summary: AU: Chloe and Derek are both new at the same school and face problems with themselves as well as their powers. Secrets are spilled, people mysteriously die, they are sought out, attacked and are trying not to let emotions take over. Life couldn't get any better. ChloexDerek NOTE: Chapters 1-8 have been revised, if you've read this recently or not so recently, I would re-read:)
1. Chapter One

**Since, I am one of the worst writers on here, making some of my readers wait nearly two years for a new chapter, I am going to repost the chapters all fixed up and hopefully better. Please bear with me, I promise you all that the new chapters will reflect a better written piece that you can hopefully enjoy and read with more clarity. Because as I reread this, I kind of want to smack myself in the face, there are some issues that I'd rather not have published on one of my favorite cites for you guys to read…so once I'm done the chapters should be hopefully tons better. I love you guys! And I'm truly sorry for abandoning this story for so long. :/**

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own The Darkest Powers, that right belongs to Kelly Armstrong.**

Chapter One.

It wasn't a very good day for Chloe Saunders.

Out of everything in her life, she thought that she wouldn't have to worry about who her parents were, or who had to take care of her. But now that not having her mother wasn't enough and having to be adopted by her aunt, because her father couldn't seem to handle raising her, she now had to endure the revelation of something she didn't expect in the least.

She was told for the first time in her life, of just turning sixteen, that who she had used to think was her father, wasn't. Chloe was utterly distraught and dumbfounded. Steve Saunders wasn't her father?

What?

Everything in her mind was screaming, no way, no way could that even be possible. It didn't in any sort of way cooperate with her thinking, with her ingrained mindset that Steve Saunders was her father, forever and always, it was one of those things that just couldn't be changed.

Except it seemed she was wrong. It was a lie that she had been fed to, told that these people who raised her, were the one and only people who brought her into the world. But now, with a truth she never thought she would have to hear, swirling through her heavily confused mind, she was left to terrorize herself with this inescapable pull of questions that her mind forcefully brought. There was no other way to describe her aunt's actions in leaving her to this knowledge than that she was a coward.

She wouldn't go any further into details that Chloe could only describe as crucial information that she just had to know by any and all means. How could someone leave a person in shock like this and not give any answers or reasons as to why? Her aunt Lauren had just left the room, shutting the door behind her without so much as a word of clarity that could be brought to Chloe's mind if she had only answers to this craziness. The only sign of caring that she had shown Chloe was the trace of silent tears streaming down her face mirroring her own.

Chloe wasn't usually violent, if ever, but at the moment she felt the need to break something, shatter it to pieces like the way she felt.

Breathing deeply in and out didn't help calm her like she originally thought it would, it actually made her want to feel even more angry and upset than she already was. She picked up the picture of who she thought was her father and her dead mother and threw it into the wall across from the room with a small cry and sank to the floor.

It wasn't his fault, it wasn't anyone's if she were being reasonable. Yet, at the moment, she wasn't so it didn't matter. Her first night of moving in and she was crying on the floor. _How grand_, she thought and rubbed her eyes as she let the tears fall and sleep enfold its thick arms around her and pull her in.

"Chloe, you need to get up. You have school today." Feeling a hand grip and shake her shoulder lightly, Chloe slowly opened her aching and undoubtedly puffy eyes.

Her head was pounding and she felt like there was a weight on her head, pulling her down. There was no way that she was going to make it through school let alone the morning like this.

Her aunt Lauren held out a bottle of water and a few pills in her hand. "Here, it's for your head. I figured you'd need them."

Taking them wordlessly and swallowing the pills with a small drink of water, she stood up and stretched. She went to her one of her suitcases filled with her clothes and took out what she needed. As she changed she tried to stop herself from thinking about the night before, from thinking about how awkward and angry she felt around the one person she really had left.

She looked down at her necklace hanging from her chain around her neck and took it off. _At least just for the day,_ she thought. Chloe couldn't handle seeing it at the moment in her state of mind, she didn't want to be reminded of something her mother had lied to her about.

Chloe put it in her suitcase and ignored it, despite the feeling of loss as it sat there untouched. Walking into the bathroom to brush her hair, she gazed into the mirror and sighed.

Not only did she feel like crap, but she looked the part too. Her eyes were still somewhat red and it was noticeable that she was extremely tired with the dark bags under eyes shadowing the sleep she needed.

After getting ready she grabbed an apple and sucked in a small breath as she went to Lauren. "I'm ready." Her words were emotionless and dry as they came out. She wouldn't, couldn't let herself give in to the bitterness she felt.

Her aunt nodded mutely and grabbed her keys and purse. They made their way toward the car and sat quietly as her aunt drove. Chloe wanted to say so much, but she didn't feel that anything she would say would end up coming out right.

The school came into view soon enough and Chloe was forced out of her thoughts. Lauren glanced over at her, "I've already got you registered, so all you have to do is get your schedule."

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded as her reply and got out of the car. There were plenty of people outside and as soon as she stepped out of the car a couple people looked her way. In a way it was almost a good thing she felt so void of herself, otherwise she would have felt more nervous.

But she couldn't really find it in herself to feel that way. The repercussions of learning about her "real father" had been a slap in the face. But it didn't matter, she decided, at least not at the moment. But who cared, she didn't need a father anyways. They ended up leaving her, so what did it matter? It didn't.

Heading toward what looked to be the office, Chloe made an effort to be more decent. To just blend in as best as possible even though she looked more like a little middle school kid then a high school student.

She was about to open the door when a guy, around her age she guessed, opened the door for her with a smile. He had blonde hair and had distinct Asian features. By looking at him for that quick moment she had that small thought that drifted through her mind as did normally that he was pretty cute.

It was just a quick analysis, something she'd look for in a movie and try to decide what character they played, so maybe he would be the hero, or the heroine's sidekick best friend.

"Thank you." She murmured, smiling shyly at him as she walked past him to one of the office staff.

The woman sitting at the desk looked up and smiled warmly, "How can I help you?"

Chloe took a deep breath, hoping her stutter wouldn't come out too horribly. "Yes, I just enrolled here and I need my s-schedule."

Glancing over at the name plate on the woman's desk it read: Mrs. Fawn. Mrs. Fawn smiled and looked up at her as she met her eyes, "What's your name, Dear?"

"Chloe Saunders." She almost winced at her last name, thinking of her dad, but brushed it off.

It took a few seconds until Chloe heard the sound of the printer, "Now let me just get that printed out for you and you'll be on your way."

Chloe stepped off to the side and looked behind her for the first time. There were three teenagers, including the guy who had nicely opened the door for her. The other two, were a girl and a guy.

The girl had short spiked hair. She looked a bit similar to the guy who had opened the door for her in a way. Chloe guessed they were either siblings or related in some way like cousins. Then there was the really tall guy, standing near the cute Asian.

He had black hair that hung in his eyes just a little bit and had a rather large figure. She wasn't sure if he was fat or really muscular from his baggy clothes. His face wasn't too bad, she thought he was kind of cute in a weird sort of way if she were being honest, he seemed like one of those guys that you thought was nice looking in elementary school, but didn't really pay attention to. She raised her gaze up further and was met with emerald green eyes. She looked away finally feeling embarrassed and almost blushed in fear of being caught.

Mrs. Fawn stood up and went over to the printer and handed her, her schedule with a smile. "Here you go and oh, here's your locker number also. Now do you think you'll be fine finding your way around?"

Chloe nodded politely, "I'll be fine, thank you."

With a short, curious glance back at the other teens, she left the office and looked down at her schedule. She had first period Geometry. _How fun,_ she thought.

Before going to her class, she looked for her locker number and put her stuff away leaving the books she'd need in her bag and putting the others away.

Finding her way to the class was easy enough considering it was right around the corner from her locker. So as soon as she walked in she sat in the back of the room hardly noticeable as the room starting filling up.

She took another look at her schedule and smiled slightly when she saw that she had fifth period theater arts. Scanning through the paper she frowned seeing that she had third lunch.

It wasn't great, but it would work just fine. Chloe sighed and leaned back in her seat. She glanced over at the door as the teacher walked in and a little ways behind him was the guy from before with the blonde hair.

He saw her and smiled like he had before and then walked over toward her. He stopped at the seat next to her, "Mind if I sit here?"

She shook her head and watched him sit down next to her quietly, he held out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Simon."

Chloe took his hand and replied, "Chloe."

Simon grinned at her, "Nice name. So how did you find your class so fast? I got lost already."

"My locker's right around the corner." She said lightly, running a hand through her hair as the head ache spiked for a moment.

He nodded in understanding, "Oh okay, hey do you mind if I see your schedule?"

Chloe shook her head and took out the paper from her bag. "Let me see yours too." she murmured and took the partly crumpled piece of paper.

They both looked them through quietly. Simon raised his head and glanced at her, "We have two classes together and you have I think, three classes and study hall with my brother and two classes with my sister, Tori."

"Wait, that one guy from earlier that was with you, is your b-brother?" Chloe asked him, feeling slightly confused.

Simon chuckled as if he got the reaction all the time, "Yeah, Derek's my foster brother."

Chloe sent him a half hearted smile, "Oh alright, that makes sense."

"Yep, so where did you move from?" He inquired suddenly, shoving his schedule back in his pocket. "I moved from Albany."

"Pennsylvania, but I used to live near here a while ago." She replied taking out her journal and pen as the teacher quieted the class.

Simon glanced over at her, "You move a lot too?"

"All the time," She answered and leaned her chin on her hand.

The teacher looking down at his laptop glanced up at the class. "It seems we have two new students today, Chloe Saunders and Simon Bae."

The class turned to look at them and Chloe couldn't help but blush with everyone's eyes set on her, while Simon smiled smoothly. He was definitely the outgoing one between the both of them.

By the end of the class and hardly understanding a word the teacher was saying, Chloe was ready for it to end. This was her worst subject and even Simon could tell by the last five minutes.

He shook his head with a small chuckle "And I thought I was bad at math."

Chloe giggled quietly and then rolled her eyes, "I'm horrible at math, I'm much better at English."

"I bet you are. I would get Derek to tutor you or something, but he'd have to be willing." Simon said looking down at his paper as he started another problem on his worksheet.

She watched him curiously and paused at working on the problems he was on. "What do you mean by that? Is he more the silent, I-don't-really-like-people type or something?"

"Yeah, that's Derek for you, but he's cool when you get to know him."

The bell rang loudly signaling the end of class. Chloe sighed in relief, "Finally."

Simon grabbed his stuff and walked over with her toward the door. "You wanna walk together to class? Us newbie's gotta stick together." He smiled brightly at her.

"Sure," Chloe replied as she shifted her bag to her other shoulder. She looked up and almost screamed at the sight of a little boy who appeared to be soaking wet, pale with a gash across his throat, blood soaking his clothes.

It was happening again.

She thought it had stopped before, hoped it wouldn't come back, that maybe if she ignored the smaller things it wouldn't get bad. Not like this.

She looked away before the little boy could say a word to her. Simon laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and asked somewhat worriedly, "Are you okay Chloe?"

Chloe tried to smile, but failed and sighed, "I'm fine, really."

He nodded, "Sorry just looked like you saw a ghost or something."

Her heart felt to have frozen. She took a deep breath and counted to three in her head. _It was just a figure of speech_, she told herself. _It wasn't meant to be taken literally_.

"Yeah sorry, anyways, let's get to class I don't want to be late." She waved him along. The day hadn't been going that bad so far; except for the fact that she saw what she thought was a ghost.

Again.

But, other than that, everything was going fine so far. She had made a friend and was getting by okay, at least for the time being. But, she knew it wouldn't last long.

Entering the classroom, Chloe went to a table that the teacher proposed and Simon followed luckily. Today she didn't feel like interacting with a bunch of people. She wanted to leave that for tomorrow when she felt like she was in a better mood.

The next couple classes were easy, P.E. and then English. Chloe had met both Derek and Tori or well saw them from afar and put their faces together with their names.

She realized that Derek really was the silent and kept to himself type. Tori on the other hand wasn't the nicest, but she wasn't mean or anything either, at least so far towards her.

As she headed over to lunch, she didn't feel all that hungry. She thought about the little boy again and almost cringed at the way he looked. It was so sad and just horrifying. But, she really hoped that she wouldn't see anymore ghosts, or whatever she thought she was seeing.

There was a table, with no one sitting at it luckily, so she went over and sat down. She took out her notebook, deciding to add more thoughts and notes to her last movie idea she had.

It was always funny to her how she could see and write the heroine's view so well, but she couldn't seem to apply the same attributes that the character would have to herself.

Chloe read over what she had last written and smiled. It started more ideas to flow and was then jotted down onto the page. Looking up for a moment, she saw Simon looking around for a place to sit, and then he saw her and came over.

"Hey, you mind?" he asked, when she shook her head, he set his tray down. Derek came seconds later behind him and sat down next to him silently.

Chloe glanced up at him from her work. Being somewhat braver than she had been earlier, she greeted him, not really expecting an answer back. "Hi."

Derek's green eyes flicked up to meet hers for a moment. "Hey." Then he looked away indifferently and took a bite out of his sandwich.

Simon took a gulp from his water bottle and asked, "So what's that for?"

"Oh this?" Chloe asked, gesturing toward her notebook, "Oh it's nothing really, just uh storyline ideas."

"That's pretty cool." He said, biting into a similar sandwich that Derek had.

A girl came over with long blonde hair, Chloe wasn't sure exactly what her name was, but she thought it might be Liz. The girl stood to the side of where Chloe was sitting, "You guys mind if I sit here?"

When Simon and Chloe shook their heads, she sat down happily. "I'm Liz by the way."

Simon smiled in a way that Chloe would probably tag as flirtatiously. "I'm Simon, this is Derek and that's Chloe."

For a few minutes they talked or well Liz and Simon were and Chloe listened. Derek had left as soon as they all started talking and Chloe was getting to the point of a head ache again. It wasn't because of their talking, but because she couldn't help but wonder who her father was and the thing with the ghost, it wasn't good when she was left alone to her pestering thoughts.

She stood up and apologized, "I'm gonna go to the library guys, sorry I've got a head ache. I'll see you later though."

Simon frowned, but nodded and waved, as Liz did and even gave her a small side hug that Chloe wasn't in the least expecting. Chloe sighed as she walked through the hall toward the library. She had seen it on her way to lunch and knew that it had to be close by.

Turning a corner, she found it and pushed open the door. There weren't many people around luckily, so she went to the back and found a corner table. Glancing at her phone, she had no more than fifteen minutes left or so, but it didn't matter much since she had study hall in the library anyways.

Leaning her head on the cool table, she let her thoughts wonder. It made her so angry that her aunt had waited this long to tell her. It was probably one of the reasons why her father or thought to be father had left her to her aunt.

The thought of that, even if she really wasn't his daughter made her sad. It only went to show that he never really did love her. And she wished that she had her real Dad, whoever he was. Maybe he had the burden she had, the kind that made her feel like she was a freak. The kind that made her want to hide.

"Chloe," Someone murmured in her ear. "Chloe, listen."

She jumped and looked around wildly. There was no one there. But then a book was sent flying and smacked her in the back of her head.

She gasped in surprise and fright, holding the back of her head as it ached in pain. Closing her eyes she hoped it would stop but then another book came flying up and thumped her on the back of her hand where she held her head. Chloe peaked up from her arm right as another book came flying at her.

Chloe got up quickly and went to leave, but a person or more like a ghost moved in front of her. She staggered back against the table.

"Stay." It said. It was a guy maybe her age or older. He had dark hair and dark eyes. She told herself to stay strong, not to break down or freak out.

The teen smiled, "Good, now sit."

Chloe sat down slowly in the chair, her heart accelerating as he moved closer to her face. He leaned down on one knee to reach her height; his hand passed through the table as he looked to be leaning against it. "Now Necro, I don't care if you don't want to listen, but you're going to have to."

Inside, Chloe was screaming, but at the same time she wondered what he had called her. _What was a_ _Necro? _

"

I have been wandering around for long enough and I need him back. You are going to help me."

She was beyond confused and tried to push this away, push him away. She wanted to think that this was just an illusion, something in her mind messing with her, because of stress or something. Yet, she had that uncanny feeling that it wasn't something she had created in her mind, but something that was really happening.

He growled in anger and raised another book, "I wouldn't do that, Necro."

Ignoring him, she took small breathes and tried to picture herself alone, everything away from her, all pushed away in a box somewhere far away.

"You little-" he was cut off as he disappeared, the book falling to the ground.

Breathing heavily and leaning back in her chair, she couldn't let herself think she was crazy anymore. This was proof that they were real, she could feel a small welt on the back of her head and she could see the books that were scattered everywhere.

There was no way that she could've been able to do that to herself, or would she in the first place. Remembering the strange word he called her she quietly picked up the thrown books and then took her things to find a computer.

Sitting down at an empty computer by itself, she looked around and pulled up Google. Biting her lip, she typed in the word "Necro." But as she typed it in there was another word to look at, it was "Necromancer."

Clicking on the word, images and websites popped up. She saw pictures of one person, looking to be raising the dead. She cringed seeing the drawings of dead bodies coming to life.

She also saw things for games and sighed. Then she went to finding the words definition, but it redirected her to the word Necromancy.

_**Necromancy**__ is a form of magic in which the practitioner seeks to summon the spirit of a deceased person, either as an apparition or ghost, or to raise them bodily, for the purpose of divination._

Tearing her gaze away from the screen she looked down. Was this what she was, what she did? She hadn't ever raised anything, but she had talked to ghosts. It seemed like a bunch of crap, but in the pit of her stomach she felt the truth of it.

She was different and if she really was a Necromancer then she'd have to deal with it. Feeling the presence of someone behind her she turned and almost jumped.

"Uh, h-hi." she stammered, standing up to block the screen from Derek's view. She didn't want anyone seeing what she was looking up, it was disturbing.

He stared at her a second longer, then asked her almost suspiciously, but she couldn't quite tell. "Why are you looking that up?"

She looked away from him biting the inside of her cheek anxiously to find something to say. "For u-um, personal reasons,"

Derek scrutinized her, seeming to figure out his next choice of words. "Why Necromancy?"

"I, uh, just um, c-curiosity," Chloe replied, fidgeting under his gaze. Something occurred to her, why would he care?

Derek raised a brow, with a look of concentration. "So just for curiosities sake, no other reason, like thinking you're one?" He had no trace of amusement or teasing in his tone or expression. He looked completely serious.

"What?" she asked, trying to calm the panic that rose as she stared into his analyzing eyes

He sighed irritably, "You heard me, Chloe."

She was shocked that he had even known her name, let alone remembered it. Quickly deciding to turn this around she said, "Of course I don't think I'm o-one. My f-friend told me to look it up for a g-game. Why do you want to know anyways, why does it matter?"

Chloe glanced up at him for a few more moments and added, "Do you think they're real or s-something?"

Derek shook his head, his eyes darkening a little bit. "Forget it." He turned and left. Chloe watched him walk over to a table at the other side of the area. She looked away and sat back at the computer, closing the tab and erasing the history off of the computer.

Getting up, she steered clear of the table she had been at before and found one a couple tables behind Derek.

The rest of the day had been easy, simple. There were no more interruptions with ghosts yet, which was a plus. But it was strange to her how they could be gone for a while and be back so quickly that it almost felt like she would never get a break from them.

Getting home, she was by herself. She had easily walked the distance and opened her front door, heading to her room to unpack some more of her things.

Chloe worked through all the boxes and bags and put them in the places she thought was best. She put on some music and hummed as she carried one of her boxes to the other side of the room.

Hearing the sound of her aunt knock on her door, Chloe turned the music down and opened the door. "Yes?" she asked.

Lauren held a pained expression as she leaned toward Chloe and wrapped her arms around her suddenly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you the way I did."

Chloe nodded and hugged her silently and pulled back as she digested her aunt's sudden apology. "I want you to tell me everything."

"Okay." She answered somewhat hesitantly, as they both sat down on Chloe's bed.

Lauren sighed, taking Chloe's hand in her own. "It started out with your mother falling in love with someone else, while engaged to Steve. She wanted to cancel the engagement, but I told her not to, including others of us. We didn't want her to throw her life away for what we thought was a fling.

"Steven knew that she was in love with someone else, but he didn't want to let her go and when he found out that she was pregnant, he wanted to know if it was his. Your mother was going to tell him the truth, but Caleb wouldn't let her. He wanted what was best for her and made her tell Steven that the baby was his. They fought and one night she found an envelope addressed to her with your necklace in it. He had left and told her that he loved you both, and that the reason he was leaving was that it was for the best."

Chloe's eyes watered, "So this Caleb person was my father." she stated and held her head in her hands.

Lauren put an arm around Chloe's back as she cried, "He was, and he was a great person, but life would have been difficult if your parents stayed together."

By her tone, Chloe could tell Lauren was hiding something else. As if there was another reason. She didn't push for an answer, but said instead passionately. "I don't care, life would have felt more real, like I-I wasn't always being lied to or left alone."

"You aren't alone Chloe, I'm here for you." She said, softly.

Chloe ignored her and asked the question that had been prickling in her mind, "Do… do you know where h-he is?"

Lauren shook her head, looking away. "I have no idea where he is. I'm sorry."

She nodded slowly and wiped her face. If there was any chance to actually meet and see a parent who had heartbreakingly was willing to give her up for her and her mother's benefit she wanted to know him. Who he was and what kind of person he was and if he was what she feared herself to be.

A freak.

**Let me know what you think, please review! **

**-Vanessa:D**


	2. Chapter Two

**Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter, here's the next chapter fixed up and hopefully much better! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own.**

Chapter Two

Chloe was in denial and she was quite fine with it. She had changed her mind. There was no way that she could be whatever she had looked up on the internet the day before. A necromancer? No way was that even close to being the least bit realistic. She couldn't let herself believe it. It was stupid. Her mind was playing tricks on her, nothing had really happened in the library.

It was just her imagination.

Walking to class, she took a deep breath in and saw Simon talking to some people, none she recognized herself, but then again yesterday wasn't the day to be paying attention on her part. She had too much to think about, still does. But as she drew closer to Simon as she walked, she ducked and quickly walked behind a group of girls so he wouldn't spot her. She didn't feel like talking to him at the moment, or really anyone. Her head was in the wrong place. It would be almost too much to keep up her cheery attitude and fake composure, all she really wanted to do was lay in bed and sleep, just to sleep it all off. There were too many things invading her sense of reason and frame of mind to want to be around anyone.

Heading to the seat she had sat in previously, she watched as a girl came up to her and sat down in the seat Simon had sat in the day before. She smiled at Chloe warmly and turned her chair toward her. "I'm Rae, you're Chloe right?"

Chloe nodded and smiled, forgetting about her desire to be by herself and felt a sort of pull toward the girl, she was one of the only other friendly faces she had seen throughout the school, excluding Simon and Liz. She glanced down at Rae's purple graphic tee shirt and smiled, gesturing to her shirt. "I like your shirt."

"Thanks," She replied with a small smile and breathed out a small sigh as she adjusted her chair, "So how do you like our school so far?" Rae asked moving her bag down on top of the desk.

"It's good, not too bad of a school I guess." Chloe replied, turning toward her from her seat.

Rae laughed with a slight shake of her head, "At least someone thinks it's an okay school. Almost everyone hates it here."

Chloe raised a brow in confusion, "How come?"

Rae leaned toward her and whispered softly, "There was a girl who died here. People say that she thought that she saw a ghost or something crazy like that and jumped out of a window of the second story to get away."

"Are you serious? That's ridiculous, you're not just trying to s-scare me, because I'm the new g-girl right?" Chloe asked as her heart rate increased as she took in the words and let them sink in.

Rae sighed and shook her head, "No, I'm not the kind to do that. And I'm not kidding either, it happened a few years back."

"That's really sad." Chloe said after a moment, staring down at her desk. "But, she was crazy right?"

Rae shrugged and pulled her hair into a low pony tail, "I don't know for sure, I didn't know her personally. But her name was Haley Thompson. Everyone I heard from who knew her said that she was fine."

Chloe nodded. It was crazy what secrets were hiding in the strangest places. She turned back toward her again, "Why did you tell me about the girl?"

"Because she's the main reason why no one likes it here, it freaks too many people out knowing that there was a crazy chick who died falling out of a window."

"But can't you survive from that?" Chloe asked.

Rae nodded, but looked away, "Well yeah, but she landed on her head."

Chloe bit her lip as the image formed in her minds eye. "Oh."

As class began and drew on Chloe found it to be the two worst things it could be, boring and difficult. She was struggling too much with the material and couldn't quite get a handle on it, but Rae sighed and turned toward her to help. By the end of the period Rae and Chloe were giggling as they worked.

"So, I'd stay away from Larry Brown," Rae said quietly, pointing toward a lanky guy in the room scratching his head.

Chloe looked at her confused, "Why what's wrong with him?"

Rae glanced toward her when he turned back towards them, she discreetly started whispering. "Nothing really, besides the dandruff, it's super bad."

They both laughed quietly and went on talking. After a few more minutes of their chatter, the bell rang and everyone was out of their seats in no time. Chloe asked Rae what next class she had and found that they had the same class again together.

Walking together toward the class, Chloe saw Liz rush over toward them. Rae smiled, "Hey, Liz."

Liz gulped in a breath of air, huffing puffing so much that Chloe was almost positive that she just ran five miles without a break, "Hi."

"Are you a-alright?" Chloe asked as she took in Liz's ragged figure and heavily breathing chest.

Liz nodded enthusiastically and walked in between them, sighing dreamily in a way that seemed calmer than it just had been. "I'm fine, great actually. I think Simon likes me." She murmured grinning brightly as she squeezed both of their arms.

Rae snorted and shook her head in what Chloe could only guess as disbelief. "He's only been here a day."

"So? That doesn't mean anything." Liz replied, and then obnoxiously stuck out her tongue. "You're just bummed that I got the cute one."

Rae narrowed her eyes and turned away, huffing a little bit. "I am not."

Chloe swallowed and sent them both a look, "What's wrong with the guys here?"

"Nothing, it's just that we've known them all from like elementary school and they're all kind of old news you could say." Liz gripped her arm a little tighter as they all saw Simon walk towards them, Liz blushed intensely. Chloe giggled a little at Liz's reaction and waved to him with her other hand.

Simon smiled as he headed toward them. He looked over at Chloe and flashed a small smile, "No head ache anymore right?"

She shook her head, sitting down at a table in the classroom as they all walked in. "Nope, it's gone luckily." She glanced over at Liz and inclined her head to the side a little, "I think you should s-sit with Liz."

He scuffed, holding a hand to his chest as if wounded. "Are you trying to get rid of me Chloe? I'm so hurt. I thought our friendship was so much more than that over our one day together so far."

"Just sit with her. I know you secretly want to." Chloe laughed a little and gave him a small push and smiled when he went over and sat down next to her, looking back over at her. Liz turned back, her face red with a small pronounced smile gracing her pink lips.

Rae sat down next to her and nudged her in the side, "Good job, I think we'll be good friends, Chloe."

Chloe smiled and turned toward the teacher to listen, but Rae whispered to her, "I know I've been a huge gossiper since you first met me, but I want to tell you something I heard this morning."

"Why?" Chloe asked as she wrote down a note in her journal.

Rae was quiet for a moment, waiting for the teacher to turn away "I just want to tell someone and you seem trustworthy enough not to spread it around."

Chloe nodded in understanding, "I don't spread anything around. You can trust me if you really want to tell me."

"Well, you know that guy? I think his name is Derek or something, Simon's foster brother?"

Chloe raised a brow suspiciously, but nodded none the less. "I know who you're talking about, but what is this about?"

"Well, I heard back in Albany that he broke some kid's back fighting and that's why they had to move." Rae replied quietly with her head down toward her own paper as she took notes.

"Are you serious?" Chloe asked, almost gaping at her from the information.

Rae nodded sadly, "Yeah, it's from a good source."

"It could've been an accident." Chloe added, not wanting to believe something about a person that horrible. _It couldn't have been on purpose, could it?_ She wondered.

Rae shrugged and wrote down notes in her journal as Chloe did once she knew Rae wasn't going to say anything more. Chloe was quiet as she thought about it. What reason would he have to break someone's back, over something ridiculous? Or was it an accident as she thought it was?

But now she felt just as bad for believing something like that from a person she had barely just met. But how could she not want to believe it when it seemed like it really could've happened. Except she couldn't assume, she had no idea what happened and why, so it wasn't really her place to believe something like that if it wasn't concrete.

Holding onto her necklace absentmindedly, having had decided to put it back on in the morning, she looked down and instantly thought of who had essentially given it to her. Chloe wondered what he looked like. She wasn't quite sure what to picture.

It was still strange to her going through this, wondering. At least when her aunt had adopted her she had talked to her dad every few days. Tonight he would most likely call. She had her questions for him, but she wasn't sure if she'd actually go through with it and ask them.

It was too hard to even think of having that conversation with him, let alone being able to actually get the words out. If she were being honest with herself, she had no idea what she'd do, much less say.

"I, um m-miss you too," Chloe replied into the phone as she paced back and forth through her nearly unpacked room.

He paused for a moment, leaving the line awkwardly silent and then asked, "So, how's school? Are you making friends?"

Chloe looked around her room and sighed, running a hand through her hair, "It's good, school's fine. And, I think I am making friends."

"That's good, that's good." he said, sounding almost uncomfortable or maybe awkward.

Taking in a deep breath she closed her eyes and let the words come out like it was word vomit, "Why didn't you tell me I had a different father?"

"She told you." He stated, in a thick sad tone.

Chloe nodded as she replied, "Yes and I just…want to know why it took so long for someone to tell me."

He sighed into the phone, "You were so young when she died and every time I wanted to tell you, I just, couldn't. It was like you really were my blood, but that doesn't mean I don't love you, and it doesn't mean that you're not still my daughter to me."

"Then why did you g-give me up? W-why is Aunt Lauren the one taking care of me." Chloe asked angrily.

"Please don't ask me that Chloe." He pleaded into the phone, sounding upset. But Chloe didn't have it in her to care at the moment. All she wanted was answers. There was nothing hard about it, but telling the truth.

Yet, the truth was so hard to get sometimes. Chloe hung up the phone and fell back onto her bed. Why wouldn't he answer? It was a question she had been wondering for the longest time and yet he couldn't do her that one favor for her and answer it.

It was hopeless and most of all, she was hopeless.

Closing her eyes she tried to let the power of sleep take over and hopefully make everything better, at least if only in her dreams.

**There is it, give me your opinion and review! Thanks!**

**-Vanessa:D**


	3. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Darkest Powers series. **

Chapter Three…

_Chloe ran through what appeared to be some type of hospital where all that surrounded her were white walls. She turned a corner through the maze of a place and hid behind a cart left behind in the hall. She wasn't sure what she was running from, she just knew she had to get away and fast._

_There were footsteps behind her, coming closer and much faster. Taking a deep breath in and bursting forward she ran as fast as she could toward the doors ahead of her. But, as always it seemed to get farther and farther away, she yelled in frustration and looked behind her._

_It just seemed like a shadow, but she knew it was something else entirely. It seemed human, but there was something strange about it._

"_Chloe," her name was a swirling whisper around her. She didn't stop for a second, but then a picture frame that had been placed on the wall flew forward and knocked her off her feet, sending her skidding against the floor._

_Wincing in pain, but trying to ignore it as best as possible Chloe scrambled up and turned to run again, but something caught her arm, pinning her._

_She screamed looking down as the rush of pain filled her. There was something lodged through her arm holding her still. Then as she was about to pull out the metal piece another shot through the air and pinned her other arm. _

_Chloe gasped in shock and breathed heavily, screaming at the pain. She looked ahead of her, seeing the figure come closer. It leant its head towards her and whispered. "There's no more running."_

Sitting up awake and holding onto her necklace, Chloe gulped in the cool air coming from her open window and sighed in relief as it cooled her body. She kicked off the blankets and hoped the cool air would help dry her hair from where it stuck to her sweat-glistened skin. After calming down she leaned back in bed and stared at the ceiling doing her best to get the creepy man's voice out of her head.

_What was that?_ She thought, turning onto her side to look at her alarm clock. It was a few minutes until she had to get up, so she turned off the alarm.

Stretching as she stood, Chloe sighed and walked over toward her closet where she had hung up most of her clothes. Taking a quick glance out of the window it looked like a fair day not too cold or warm.

She took out a pair of jeans and a blue shirt, grabbing a black sweatshirt over it. Her stomach rumbled as she put on her converse and wrinkled her nose, she felt way too hungry. Turning down the stairs Chloe carefully made her way down so she wouldn't trip like she had multiple times already. After eating a bowl of cereal she decided that since she still had a lot of time before school that she'd walk there.

As she walked out the front door with her bag hung over her shoulder she texted Lauren that she'd be walking. The wind blew, tossing her blond hair around her face.

Breathing in she crossed the street and put her hands in her pockets. Glancing over to the left she saw a red mustang slow to a crawl beside her. She raised a brow in wonder, but kept walking.

"Hey, you need a ride cutie? I'm Liam" An older guy, probably a senior or junior with blond hair asked, smiling at her.

Chloe shook her head, feeling immediately nervous and was undoubtedly getting the creepy vibe from him. She swallowed thickly and kept walking, even sped up a little bit, but he followed and asked again, a little more persistent, "You sure, there's enough room in here."

"I-I'm fine, t-thanks." she stuttered, noticing for the first time another guy in the front seat beside him.

He leaned over him and added, "C'mon, we don't bite."

Liam grinned, white teeth glistening brightly at her. She sighed and stopped walking, taking a deep breath. "No thanks, b-but thank you for the o-offer."

They shrugged and Liam smirked out the window and winked, "See ya at school, Cutie."

She shuddered as they sped off. Chloe held a hand to her chest as she tried to calm her pounding heart. The rest of the walk was quiet and undisturbed as she turned into the school and was glad that no one else had tried to bother her.

Going over to her locker, she did her combination and put in what she didn't need, then took out what she did and slipped it into her bag. Glancing around to find a familiar face, she turned left down a crowded hallway and bumped into someone. "I'm sorry." she apologized automatically as she looked up to see Liam grinning down at her.

Her heart clenched painfully, in a frightened uncomfortable way as he leaned closer to her, her back hitting the locker as she stepped away from him. Liam smiled at her, whispering in her ear. "Do I make you nervous Chloe?"

"H-how, d-do you know m-my name?" she asked leaning as far away from him as possible, hoping that she'd see someone who could get her away from him. He gave that extra creepy, scary vibe that made her fear for her safety and that didn't happen often, but then again she was never around anyone who seemed dangerous, at least not like Liam did.

He pulled a little bit back from her, but placed his arm by her head as he played with a piece of her hair, "From a friend."

Chloe turned away from him and tried to push her way past his arm. When he wouldn't give and let her through she glared at him and inclined her head toward his arm. "Let me t-through."

"I don't really feel like it. I think having you here is just fine." He replied, and then added, "Cutie, I like you. You wanna skip with me?" He wagged his eye brows at her, only making her sick to her stomach and somewhat more scared.

She shook her head furiously, finding herself even more angry than frightened, but still scared none the less. "No, n-now get out of my way."

Liam sneered at her, "I don't think so."

"She said, get out of her way." Someone said behind him. Chloe tried looking over Liam's shoulder, but he was too tall and meaty for her to see.

Liam smirked as he turned his head and suddenly grinned antagonistically. "Mind your business, Pup. You have no need to be over here."

Chloe bent down a little and looked under Liam's arm and saw Simon's brother, Derek. She mentally cheered, not caring in the least that he may or may not have purposefully broken a kid's back. At the moment she couldn't have cared if he kicked kittens for fun, her level of anxiety was rising as time passed being so close to Liam.

She watched as Derek glared at him and took a step closer. "Let. Your. Arm. Up." He bit out with a little bit of a growl to it. Chloe was team Derek all the way if it meant Liam would leave her alone.

Liam rolled his eyes, leaning closer to Chloe's face and without turning from Derek licked her cheek, "You think you could take me?"

Derek's eyes grew a little as Liam's tongue grazed Chloe's face. She stiffened and wanted to scream from the inside. All she could think of was how gross that was, his tongue had just touched her face. But as she closed her eyes she peeked through one eyelid as she saw Derek move Liam's arm for him. Chloe took the great opportunity and bolted out from the small space she had been enclosed in and was thankfully away from Liam and his disgusting tongue.

Liam growled, grabbing Derek's arm, but Derek took the arm he had in his grip and twisted Liam's arm back behind him. "Stay away from her." He said, lowly but not low enough that Chloe couldn't hear.

The bell rang and Derek let go of him pushing him forward, walking off without another word. Chloe didn't wait any longer and briskly took off down another hallway before Liam had any type of chance to approach her again

Heading into class, she sat without even listening, her pulse speeding. Her thoughts were stuck on what had just happened. She had been saved by a stranger, who was in a way a bit intimidating. But she was thankful, extremely so.

She could barely feel the nudge of Simon at her left side and Rae's try at a conversation to her right. Chloe looked to the front of the room, lost in her thoughts for the rest of the period. She didn't have it in her to speak for the moment. She needed to recuperate from the scene in the hall. All she could think was what would've happened if Derek hadn't intervened? Would Liam have done something worse, taken her?

As soon as the bell rang and Chloe had her homework together, she walked out of the classroom with a sigh. Simon came over toward her and took the crook of her elbow gently. "Chloe, I can tell you don't want to talk right now. I can take a hint, but I want to know what happened this morning anyways." Simon said.

Chloe turned toward him and pulled him to a corner, "Nothing really h-happened besides this guy L-Liam, who wouldn't l-leave me alone, but luckily your brother, Derek, h-helped me." She looked down and sighed. "That's all okay?"

Simon searched her eyes, his eyes tinted in worry. "Are you alright? Did Liam do anything?"

She shook her head, "No, he was just bothering me."

"You sure?" He asked again, seeming to be ready to fight it out.

Chloe laughed at that thought and placed her small hand on his shoulder. "Simon, I'm fine, no worries okay?"

"Fine, but if he bother's you again, just tell me." He replied seriously and led them out of the classroom.

She nodded and smiled genuinely at him, "Thanks, you're a really awesome friend."

He smirked, both heading toward their classroom. "I know."

As soon as Chloe was sitting next to Rae, she turned cautiously toward her knowing that she wanted to know what had happened. Chloe held up a hand, before Rae could start to speak. She was talking to gossip central, that much was obvious by the end of the first time speaking to her. "How much do you already know?"

Rae swallowed and looked away before sighing, "All of it and I promise I won't say anything to anyone."

"Good, it's not l-like anything h-happened anyways." Chloe replied and smiled at her, "Thanks."

Going into English, she sat in a seat by some girl named Amber and took out her notebook, waiting for class to start. As soon as the teacher got the class' attention, she went to her desk and picked up a stack of papers and started to pass them out.

"To learn about biography and to understand the lengths each writer goes to, to get the right information, I have created an assignment. It will be asking personal questions about your partner. And no, you will not be choosing your own partners."

The class, "awed" and made their distaste clear, but the teacher threw a stern look toward them and added, "I've already made the list, this will be due tomorrow as you walk in the door, no exceptions."

Chloe bit her lip in anticipation. She wasn't sure who'd she get. She was almost worried she'd get someone she'd rather not, but then again she hadn't even been in the class very long, it wasn't like she'd know who she wouldn't really want anyways. But looking down at the page, she noticed how personal the questions where.

Such as: _Have you ever gone through a "tragedy" in your life so far__?_

Just reading it, she knew for some of these she'd probably lie for. This was a dumb assignment. She knew she'd never write a biography again, or want to.

The teacher called off names, Amber squealing as she left her seat. Chloe sat alone, waiting for her name to be called off. Then, hearing her name she froze, "Chloe Saunders and Victoria Enright."

Tori walked over, with a small glare towards the teacher and sat next to Chloe quietly. Chloe didn't say a word as the teacher called off the rest of the names. She sunk down in her seat and stared at the list, each question stood out to her.

After class, Tori went up to her, an indifferent look gracing her features. "Where do you want to do this?"

Chloe shrugged, nervously and swallowed, "W-we could do it at my house."

Tori nodded, "That's fine. Give me your address."

Chloe ripped out a piece of paper and quickly wrote down her address. She handed it over to Tori and watched as Tori walked off without another word toward Liz.

At the end of the day, heading to her last class, Chloe was beat. She just wanted to go home and sleep, but she had to do the assignment with Tori. Walking into history, she had a bad feeling. There had to be some project or something that was coming. And there was no way she was looking forward to it. Just hearing from Rae that there was something for us in history wasn't good. She wanted to know, but Rae wouldn't elaborate.

Once the teacher was inside the classroom and the bell had rung, Chloe sat in anticipation. Mrs. Schroeder stood at the front of the room and passed out papers as she talked.

"For the next two weeks you have a project to do solely based on what we've been learning in class about the American Revolution. Everything on the rubric has to be apart of your project or points will be deducted. Everyone will be selected in pairs." She sat down in her chair and looked down at a sheet of paper.

Mrs. Schroeder cleared her throat and looked up at the class for a moment before reading off the first set of names, "Elizabeth Delany and Victoria Enright."

Chloe glanced over at Liz and saw her grin and start to enthusiastically talk to Tori. She looked forward and sighed, waiting for her name. She heard as most other people got called until finally, her name was called, right as she took a sip from her water of bottle.

"Derek Souza and Chloe Saunders," Chloe almost choked at the pairing and swallowed the water, coughing slightly. After the last couple names were called, the teacher announced, "You have the rest of class to make a plan on the project."

Chloe didn't move when other people did, but waited to see if Derek would come to her. She gazed over at him and saw him incline his head toward the empty seat next to him.

Taking a small breath in she grabbed her bag and made her way over to the empty seat beside him. "Hi," she said quietly as she sat down and turned toward him.

Derek nodded his greeting and looked down at the rubric. "I'll do the model." he said simply.

"And, I'll do the paper." She replied, but then sighed seeing that they also had to do a presentation board with the model. "We'll both have to do the p-presentation board and stuff though."

"That's fine. We can do it in the library after school, starting tomorrow." He said, without looking up at her.

She nodded slowly, "Okay, cool." Chloe bit her lip and added, "Um, I wanted to thank you for this m-morning. I really appreciate it."

Derek glanced up for her, his green eyes captivating her, "Don't mention it."

After an awkward moment of silence, Chloe took out her journal and the history book to take notes for the paper she'd have to write. Sighing as she worked, she looked over at him. He was working on a worksheet or something, she couldn't tell what so she turned back to her journal.

Finally getting home, she was tired and wasn't really looking forward to working with Tori. She wasn't sure how it'd turn out, but the sooner it was done, the better.

**Please REVIEW ;) **

**-Vanessa:D**


	4. Chapter Four

**Hope everything is to your liking, let me know if you have any suggestions or things you want to happen or anything else. Also, I go back and forth because I haven't written it before, like ever lol, but I was thinking that maybe in the future I could make it just a bit lemony. Maybe not full on like smutty awesomeness but yeah haha I don't know, let me know if you guys think that's a no go or a go. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own.**

Chapter Four….

Chloe opened the door to Tori, who stood cautiously at her front door, looking around. "Are you okay?" she asked as she let Tori in.

"I'm fine. Let's just get this done so I can go home." Tori replied in a bitter tone that made Chloe a little irritated. It wasn't like she wanted to be partners with her either, much less wanted to do the assignment.

But she nodded stiffly and walked her over to the dinning room table. Tori nodded towards the house and sat down, "Nice house."

"Thanks," Chloe replied a little awkwardly, trying to somewhat calm her nerves if she could. Tori's a person, she reminded herself, she wasn't someone to be afraid of, not like Liam, at least she thought so.

Tori took out her paper and pen and looked up at her. "What do you want to do as your career?"

"Movie director," Chloe said and asked, "And you?"

Tori wrote quickly and said, "I don't know."

After twenty-five more minutes of answering the questions and some awkward moments, they were finally done. Chloe sighed in relief and glanced over at Tori and then stood, "You want anything to drink?"

Tori shook her head and got up from her chair, "Well I gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow."

Chloe could tell something changed, even if it was in the tiniest bit. Tori was still a bit sarcastic and somewhat rude, but she was almost doing it in a teasing way now after some time, which was a plus. She hoped at least that it was. Then again, she could be kidding herself into believing it.

Forgetting about dinner she went upstairs and fell onto her bed, tired as hell. But instead of going to sleep, she took out her history book and notebook with her previous notes for the paper.

Chloe went over and grabbed her laptop and started typing up what would be best for them to do for the first part of the paper. Finally finishing the first portion, she put her laptop in her bag and sighed.

She groaned as she kicked off her shoes and turned onto her stomach. Chloe closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

Deciding not to take any chances on seeing Liam on her walk to school she waited and had Lauren take her instead. There was something about Liam that was off to her, besides the strange licking and perversion, that made her somewhat scared of him and she didn't want to know, whatever it was.

Quickly getting out of the car with a small wave to Lauren; Chloe made her way toward the school and her locker. She looked around cautiously, almost feeling like Liam would pop out of nowhere again.

Chloe closed her locker with a sigh and leaned her head against the cool metal for a moment. She turned and shouldered her bag making her way toward where Rae was standing with some other girls Chloe could somewhat recognize from some of her classes. She smiled at Rae and stood there for a moment as they finished their conversation.

A girl turned to Chloe, her face scrunched up at her. "Why would you turn down Liam?"

Chloe bit her lip and glanced over at Rae who curiously looked at her with the same wonder the girl before her had. She cleared her throat, "I-I just don't like him."

The girl's eyes widened, "How could you not?!" she sighed and shook her head, mumbling, then turned and walked off with her friends in a haughty manner.

Chloe leaned against a locker and glanced over at Rae who was surprisingly silent. "I don't get it either, Chloe." Rae said quietly.

"There's n-nothing to get. I don't l-like him. At all. It's not that h-hard." Chloe replied, looking at Rae with a strange expression, her cheeks flaming.

Rae sighed, "That's not my point though. Everyone has a thing for him, whether anyone admits it or not. We just do."

"Well, m-maybe I'm not like everyone else." Chloe said quietly, looking down at the ground. She glanced up and said, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom, I'll see you in class."

Leaving lunch toward Study Hall, Liz stopped her and bit her lip. "So Chloe, I wanted to ask you a favor."

"Sure, what is it?" As Chloe looked at Liz she had that gut wrenching feeling that sent a nervous shutter in her stomach that felt like she may not like what she would say.

Liz groaned and held onto Chloe's hands, "Okay, you have to understand. Right now I'm kind of desperate to actually have a boyfriend and I really, really, really like Simon."

Biting back the fear of what Chloe knew she most likely wouldn't like, she sighed and squeezed Liz's hands. "I know, but what does this have to do with the favor exactly?"

"Um, you see Simon said he wants to go out, but not if Derek doesn't. So he'll only go if Derek actually comes."

Chloe closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head in dismay. "How do I come into this?"

Liz leaned in and hugged Chloe and whispered, "Will you go on a double date with us or something like that? Get Derek to come so Simon will go?"

"Why can't you and Simon just go? This is d-dumb." Chloe replied, pulling back from her with a frown.

Liz pouted and held her hands together, "Please, please, please! I would try to get Rae to, but I know she wouldn't do it and Tori is Derek's sister and everyone else is retarded. Plus the fact that he helped you with Liam yesterday too." Liz winked at her, but it only made Chloe shake her head.

Chloe sighed, "Why does everyone know about that?" She shook her head again in annoyance and swallowed, "Fine, I'll try, but if he doesn't want to come then Simon's got to convince him."

"Thank you, so freaking much, I love you!" She grinned and hugged Chloe tightly before smiling at her again and skipping down the hallway toward Tori, who looked at her questioningly.

Walking into the library, Chloe gulped upon seeing Derek in his regular seat. She bit her lip and sat at her regular table. She twisted her necklace in her hand and looked over at a bookshelf.

She jumped in her chair and tried to stifle her scream. There standing was the dark haired guy who she had thought had thrown books at her. Nope, she was losing it. Chloe rubbed her eyes and looked away.

Her figment of her imagination came over and whispered in her ear, "I saw you, don't hide."

Chloe stiffened at how close he was and tried to ignore him. She did her best to stop the gasp of surprise from coming out, but she was having trouble in keeping herself calm. She thought back to the day with the books and suddenly remembered how he had disappeared.

Gritting her teeth she shook her head rapidly, this isn't real. He's not real, why should she have to push something away that shouldn't even exist in the first place. It felt like he had picked up a piece of hair and tugged it sharply. She bit her lip and "owed" angrily. It didn't matter anymore in that split second of changing her mind she pictured the box and thought of shoving him in so deep into it that he wouldn't ever come out.

He screamed at her and scratched her exposed arm, but then he was gone. Chloe leaned back in her seat and let the thought of herself being crazy sink in. Why did it have to be her, what made the world so twisted that she, herself had to be consumed in the craziness of it.

Maybe, just maybe Lauren could help her with it. Get her some help. Cure her if possible. Chloe smiled at that, it would be a long shot, but if it worked in the end it could be good for her. She'd feel more normal.

Forgetting about the loads of math homework she had, Chloe pursed her lips and stood up abruptly. She might as well get this over with now when she still had some adrenaline pumping through her.

Leaving her bag on the table, Chloe breathed in a shuddering breath and stopped in front of him. "Um, hi Derek."

He looked up, his intimidatingly nice eyes meeting hers. "Hi."

"I-I don't know if Simon already asked you, but for m-my friend's sake, will you go with us to whatever we're g-going to?"

Derek narrowed his eyes slightly, "He asked, but I still don't see why we need to go."

Chloe nodded and shifted to her other leg, "I know, I don't either it's kind of pointless, but w-will you go anyways?"

"Whatever." He said with a sigh and looked back down at his work.

She nodded slowly and slipped her hands into her pockets, "Okay then, thanks. I'll uh talk to you later, I guess."

Without another word, Chloe walked back to her table, feeling anxious and thoughtful. _Well that was easier than I thought it'd be._

**Please REVIEW ;)**

**-Vanessa:D**


	5. Chapter Five

**Hope you enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own!**

Chapter Five….

As soon as the period was over Chloe made her way over to Liz and smiled warmly at her, "Hey Liz."

Liz beamed seeing her, and then after an expression of realization flashed over her face she rushed toward Chloe. "Please tell me you have good news!"

Chloe held onto her shoulders, letting Liz take a moment to chill. "Well he said he'd go, but he doesn't sound thrilled. And to be honest I'm not either." Chloe replied, wincing as Liz shrieked in happiness and squeezed her in an embrace.

"You are so awesome, thank you so much! I'm so glad you moved here." Liz exclaimed, hugging her once more as she practically bounced up and down.

Chloe smiled and hugged her back, but not as tightly. "You're welcome." she grinned, the smile contagious from an ecstatic Liz. Chloe rubbed the back of her head in sudden thought and focused on Liz, "When are we forced to go?"

Liz sent her a pointed look, "You make it sound so bad! But, it'll be today at 5:30ish. Simon said to meet at the park, I guess."

She bit her lip and nodded. Why did she feel like she had to be so nice? After the last period Chloe met with Derek after school in the library as promised and sighed, waiting for him at the table he usually sat at during Study Hall. She sat down and took out her laptop that had been safely tucked in her locker all day as she hoped it would. She didn't need anyone stealing it.

Chloe pulled up Microsoft Word and decided to add some notes they'd most likely need for the poster portion as she waited. Looking up from her laptop to see if he was there yet, she saw Derek walk in and watched as he sat down in his usual seat.

Chloe looked down and shyly, her throat somewhat dry greeted him politely. "Hi."

He grunted as his usual reply and took out a few pieces of paper with some writing on it. She glanced at it and saw drawings of different model ideas. The main one was for a canon and it seemed it was the one he was actually going to do.

"Wait, you're going to make a c-canon?" She asked in disbelief, eyeing the notes along side of the paper.

Derek nodded and sighed, "Might as well make it as best as possible if it's worth this much of our grade."

Chloe turned to her laptop, "Well I basically have the f-first part of the paper and n-now that I know what the model will be I-I can start the notes for the p-presentation."

"Okay." he said and added, "I need to start this, but since we have to go to the stupid thing, we'll just meet again tomorrow and figure out when to get more of it done."

She nodded and put away her laptop, wondering why she even brought it in the first place since the little meeting had been so short. "T-that's fine. I'll see you in a couple hours then."

They both walked out of the library and Chloe decided to take a short cut to her house to save some time. She walked through the trees, trying not to turn around at the small sounds of the forest.

Breathing in sharply, she counted to ten in her head and tried to stay calm, feeling like something was watching her. There was a ruffle in the leaves near her and she froze, turning around.

There was a blur of something golden go by past her through the trees. She yelped at the sound of a bush a few feet away from her growl. Deciding not to let herself into something that of a movie she'd direct, Chloe ran as fast as she could home.

Chloe ran in the direction of her house and looked back behind her, there was another blur of some type of animal coming toward her, but then a log came and smacked it aside. She tripped on a root and fell on her face where dirt filled her mouth as she choked for air.

Regaining her composure, she quickly stood up and shot forward, not even turning back to see what had swung the log or if the animal was after her, no matter how hard the desire was to look. Chloe screamed, falling back into the dirt as soon as the large animal skidded to a halt in front of her.

It was huge, bigger than her. To her, it looked like a golden brown wolf, there was no other way it could be something else. But it didn't seem that likely to find such an animal where she was.

Chloe pulled her hand to her mouth and tried to bite back the scream waiting to come out again as it came closer, growling.

Scooting back more and more until she was up against a tree, with the wolf not more than a couple feet away from her she whimpered and shut her eyes. Not willing to see the disaster that would become of her. Chloe waited for the pain, waited for the ripping of flesh and the crunch of her bones as the wolf bit its massive jaws into her

Yet after what felt like forever, it didn't come. She opened one eye and it was gone. It was like the wolf was never there, but it had been. There were prints in the dirt near her that made the scene all the more real.

Chloe shakily stood and rubbed away the stream of tears that had ran down her face. Hiccupping as she walked, wanting to run, but deciding that it could cause it to come back if she made a commotion of noises. She glanced at her aching elbow and saw a scrape from the top of her elbow down to the bottom.

Biting her lip she ignored the small ache and kept walking, getting closer to her house.

"I helped you, Necro. It's time you help me." The same guy was back, his pale arms crossed over his chest and a determined look across his features.

Chloe yelled out in anger and threw her hands in the air, regretting it as soon as she felt the sting and the small rush of blood flow down her arm. She covered her ears and kept walking. "I can't hear you!" She shouted.

He rolled his eyes and walked backwards in front of her closely. "You just answered me, so really you did hear me."

"Just, just….You're not real! I'm just losing my mind, I'm going crazy." She replied, removing her hands away from her ears and breathing in deep breathes to stop the burning of tears at her eyes.

Chloe couldn't help but glance at him, wishing that he was real and that she wasn't crazy. His expression softened, "You're not crazy."

Chloe let the tears fall and sniffed, then looked up at him defiantly. "Yes, actually I am. You're just something I created in my head and think is real. I'm delusional, losing it in the head."

He stopped and picked up a rock, a look of deep concentration set on his face. He dropped it in her hand, "Then how did that get in your hand just now if I didn't hand it to you?"

Chloe glared at him and looked away, rubbing away her tears. "Why am I even still talking? Is this part of it, talking to yourself and thinking that someone's giving you things and saving you from weird animals that I probably just made up in my head? Or maybe-" She stopped short and sighed, realizing she was babbling to herself.

As she walked she made a steady pace, trying to ignore the teenager walking with her. He sighed and rubbed a hand through his face. "My name's Ryan."

She stopped and kicked a tree. "Argh! Why does it have to be me? Why is it that I have to go crazy now?"

Ryan raised a brow and shoved his hands in his somewhat ripped and stained jean pockets, "All I told you was my name. I don't know how many times I'll have to tell you Necro, but you're not crazy. You just don't know. Now if you'd just help me-"

Chloe cut him off, "I am not a Necro. Leave me alone."

"Yes you are, and no, I will not leave you alone until you help me damn it!" He yelled, glaring at her. "I've decided to be nice to you, but there's only so much of me being nice that I can take until I start being mean again Necro. And I recall you didn't like that very much.

In the distance she saw her house not too far away, ignoring him, Chloe started walking again and thought of a room without sound, without anyone but herself. She looked around and Ryan was still glaring at her, about to pick up something.

Thinking of the box, being familiar with it, she pushed him into it, knowing it was like the crazy box inside her head. The one she put everything so far that made her such a freak.

Ryan was gone, and she was happy or at least content. Hopefully he would stay gone, and not come out of her crazy box. At this point Chloe wasn't sure if she would be able to go later. Not in the state she was feeling she was in, but she'd have to tough it out. She had told Liz that she'd go and it was important for her friend so why the hell not.

It would be hard to not "see things" especially things that would talk to her. Things she'd think was real, but wasn't. Chloe hoped that it would end quickly and she could be back home and in bed, maybe even take a day off of school, which she most likely wouldn't. She couldn't let herself get anymore behind than she already felt.

Heading through the back door and straight to her bathroom, Chloe went to the medicine cabinet to take out a bandage. She put her arm in the sink and turned on the water to wash off the dirt and blood.

After cleaning herself up and taking a shower, Chloe slipped on a pair of jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt with her converse. She dried her hair with the towel and sighed looking in the mirror.

She was so small, and so plain, boring. Hardly any figure, nothing to be happy about. Tearing her gaze away from the mirror, Chloe grabbed her house key and some money in case she'd need it and put them in her back pocket. Taking her phone in her front pocket and turned on her iPod to listen to it, cranking it up.

Chloe made her way down the stairs and felt her phone buzz. Looking, it was a text from her aunt saying that she'd be late coming home. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in and then a long breath out to stop from panicking or going into shock after what had happened earlier. That wolf could've mauled her.

There was that feeling going through her, so alone and afraid. She wanted to tell someone, at least the part where she almost got attacked, just something anything.

She knew for a fact that Liz didn't say anything to anyone. She did know that Rae wasn't as reliable, she would say something, and Chloe knew she didn't like that about Rae at all. But everyone had their flaws. That she knew more than ever now.

As she walked down the sidewalk her heart rate began to speed up, she thought of earlier and the fear she held grew. There was no way she'd let it consume her, she couldn't let it make her so scared to the point of not ever coming back outside. But the thought was nice, never leaving the safety of her home where she knew that wolves, scary perverts, or supposed ghosts wouldn't come and terrorize her.

People always said to face their fears and she needed to try. She needed to believe that nothing will happen like that again. She wasn't in the forest so that was a plus. And so far it was okay. But the convincing part was still a big difficulty, the wolf could still come. It could still come back to eat her.

The walk to the park was easy and short, she walked along a path with trees on each side. Liz was ahead of her by herself sitting. Chloe sat down next to her as she came up to her and sighed, "Nervous?"

Liz nodded and held onto Chloe's arm, "Very much so." she paused and gazed at Chloe worriedly, feeling her arm. "Hey, Chloe are you okay? What happened here?"

She smiled despite herself and shook her head, looking down. "Not really. I-I-I-"

"Chloe, take a deep breath and then speak slowly." Liz said it in a way that made Chloe not want to feel embarrassed or irritated that someone was telling her to slow down. But she did as Liz said and took a deep breath and then thought out her words before speaking. "I-I think I was almost attacked by a wolf or something."

Liz's eyes widened, "Are you sure, I mean it could've been something else."

"No, it was a wolf." Chloe replied, holding her head in her hands.

Liz nodded, giving Chloe a side hug. She sighed, "Well, maybe we should cancel today. Wait, that bandage on you arm isn't from it is it?"

Chloe's head shot up, "No, no I tripped and it's fine, we're doing this. I'm not gonna let you cancel this because of me."

"Are you sure, Chloe?" Liz asked, biting her lip.

She nodded and stood up, "Of course. They're here anyways."

Standing up slowly, Liz stood next to Chloe, twisting her hands together nervously. Chloe smiled at Simon as they came walking up, and then glancing at Derek she noticed that he seemed tense as he strode toward them.

"Hey, guys." Simon said, grinning.

Liz smiled and they all stood awkwardly for a few moments, Simon clapped his hands together once and walked over toward Chloe and Liz, he held out his arm to Liz and whispered to Chloe, "I'm gonna go ahead with her."

She nodded and smiled, and then winked at Liz as she turned around to look at her with red cheeks. Chloe watched as they walked off leaning toward each other hesitantly, but talking.

Now Chloe was stuck alone with Derek.

**Please REVIEW!**

**-Vanessa:D**


	6. Chapter Six

**I hope you guys enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Kelly Armstrong owns.**

Chapter Six…

Chloe glanced over at Derek and smiled weakly at him, and then sighed, "I still don't see why they needed us here."

"Yeah," He said absentmindedly, but she could still tell he was tense. There was a look of concentration on his face that she wasn't sure about as they stood awkwardly.

She sat back down at the bench and held her head with one hand, feeling a bit bored and still freaked out from the days previous events. Chloe couldn't get the wolf out of her mind, or the point of how crazy she felt.

Derek looked up at her, catching her gaze, his eyes hesitant, but as he spoke he was confident. "Are you sure it was a wolf?"

"What?" She asked, her pulse starting to race even thinking of the wolf, her heart was pounding violently in her chest.

He set his piercing gaze on her, giving her a look. "You heard me, Chloe."

She took a deep breath, her eyes closing for a second. Then she opened them, her eyes narrowing. "Yes I'm sure, but the real question is h-how you knew to ask me that, Derek."

"I heard you and Liz talking. It's not like we were that far away, Chloe." Derek replied, in a condescending tone.

Chloe shook her head, almost laughing to herself in disbelief, knowing that they were too far away. She didn't think it would be that possible for him to hear her. She sighed and looked down at the ground, "Why does it even matter to you?"

He looked away from her then and ran a hand though his dark hair, "It doesn't."

They were both silent as the minutes past. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to talk to him or walk around, or something. It was killing her, the silence. She thought about her biological dad and tried to picture him, tried to make some kind of image of what he looked like. Of what kind of person he was.

She imagined a tall man with dirty blond hair, and blue eyes, broad shoulders and a strong jaw. He would have a look to him that meant he was a person not to mess with, like he was someone important, someone who was willing to make a change.

Licking her dry lips, Chloe wondered why she would picture him like that. There was no real answer; it was what came to mind. Looking up, she finally saw Liz and Simon making their way back. Liz was giggling and smiling while Simon just had this expression of content.

If Chloe was being her usual nice self, she'd say they looked cute and was happy she came along, but in full honestly she was still somewhat annoyed that she came for basically nothing.

Simon smiled at them, "Hey, we wanted to know if you guys wanted to go to the carnival going on over a couple blocks away. We saw a flyer for it."

Chloe shrugged, while Derek grunted in response. Liz clapped her hands together and grinned. She took Chloe's arm and walked along with Simon, as Derek followed on Simon's other side.

As they walked, Liz and Simon both talked easily, filling the silence that Chloe and Derek provided. Chloe nodded and laughed at the appropriate times, playing the part of a good friend.

Derek, on the other hand, seemed to be lost in thought from what Chloe could tell. He was concentrated on something, but every time she looked too long at him, he would glance over at her. Then she would blush for getting caught and somehow say something to add into Simon and Liz's conversation.

Finally making it there, Liz dragged Simon away, giving an apologetic look towards Chloe. Derek tensed as Chloe stood near him, watching her friend leave and looked over at him. He was staring at a place ahead of them.

Liam stood facing them with a glare directed at Derek, but as soon as he noticed Chloe his glare turned into a sick grin, his white teeth showing sharply. For some reason Chloe gulped and then turned away, her heart sank, making her want to throw up as usual when he was around.

Derek looked down toward her and sighed, "Come on."

"What?" Chloe asked, glancing over at him in wonder, she was too focused on Liam.

"You want to get away from him right? Then come on." He elaborated, seeming annoyed. She nodded and followed him through the thick crowds of people, hoping that wherever they were going, was somewhere away from Liam and also somewhere with a ton of people.

He stopped and looked behind them, then turned again through the crowd, Chloe followed anxiously and blew out a breath. They had found Liz and Simon again, a bit farther away a few booths down.

Derek turned, looking behind her. "We should go."

"What why?" She asked, glancing over at Liz and Simon, grinning and seeming to be having fun.

Derek stepped forward in front of her, blocking Liam's path to her. Liam rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, "Avoiding people is rude, Mutt."

Chloe gulped just hearing his voice and moved closer to Derek. She may not know him very well, but she did know that he was on her side and would hopefully help her now. Even though she felt like a burden to him.

"Stalking isn't any better if you can't take a hint." Derek replied gruffly, narrowing his emerald eyes at him.

Liam laid a hand on Derek's shoulder casually, but with a small growl Derek shrugged it off, his scowl in place. "Listen here Pup, I want a taste out of your little girlfriend here, no take that back a bite, whether you like it or not." Liam's teeth glistened in the light, a shiver running down her back.

Chloe glared at him, trying her best not too seem like she was scared, "I'm not-"

Derek held her back and cut her off, "She's not interested."

"I didn't ask if she was, did I?" Liam smirked, looking sideways at her, through Derek's arm.

Chloe moved over to Derek's side, partially leaning toward him, scared out of her wits. "Why me? There are t-tons of other g-girls."

Liam looked up at the darkened sky nonchalantly, "Hmm, there's something about you, well besides being small and blonde. I love the chase and honestly, I can tell that there's something _different_ about you."

She flinched as he said the word "different" and reared back a step. Derek stepped in then, "Find someone else and stay away from her." He said bluntly, his glare fixated intently on Liam.

Liam sighed, but then grinned suddenly, "Once I've found someone, it's already too late." He sing-songed and turned around disappearing through the heavy crowd.

Derek glanced down at her tense figure, "You okay?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head unable to look at him, "Not really." Chloe sighed, muttering to herself, "Today just won't end."

He exhaled deeply, running a hand over his forehead and sighed again, "I'll take you home."

She looked up at him bewildered, "But, Liz and Simon-"

"Are fine, they won't mind if we bail." Derek replied easily, looking ahead of them toward Simon.

"Okay, I guess." She replied tiredly, she was okay with ditching, home sounded nice. But her rush of relief went out the window as soon as she saw someone wearing a top hat and a ripped buttoned jacket. She wondered who would wear that attire anymore. The man looked up and his eyes widened, he moved toward her.

Chloe took a step back, wondering what kind of person this was, but then he put his hand on her arms, "You have to help me, Miss." She almost screamed as his hand went right through her.

She tried her best to ignore him and turned to Derek who was looking at her strangely, "Um, l-lets g-go."

He nodded none the less and started walking. She followed, wincing as the man started to yell at her, almost cry. Why was she doing this to herself? Why was it that her mind had to turn on her?

They walked through the park, Chloe shivering slightly as the wind blew and hugged herself. The walk was silent, but not awkward. She didn't necessarily enjoy it especially with whatever that was following her, still begging and pleading for her attention.

She turned a right walking alongside Derek, his hands shoved in his pockets. Finally making it to her house, she turned toward him, smiling slightly. "Thank you, Derek."

He nodded and turned to leave, but paused, "I'd stay away from Liam as much as possible."

Chloe shook her head and smiled bitterly looking away, "I would promise to, but I know he w-won't stop."

"I'll take care of it." Derek replied calmly, turning away again to leave.

She watched him leave and went back into the house. It felt like everything was coming down, collapsing. Everything was coming apart and she couldn't seem to put it back together. She didn't know what to do. She climbed up the stairs, but stopped hearing voices in the kitchen. Her aunt was talking to a man. Chloe listened quietly.

"It has to have started already." The man said, pacing.

Lauren sighed, "I think it has. What do I do? Have we even found him yet?"

The man sat down at the table and sighed, "No we haven't found him, and you should take her to see me. I need to see how strong it is."

"Okay, when should I take her then?"

He stood again, in thought. "Tomorrow. Hmm we still need to get Kit's boy. I don't trust how controlled he is."

Lauren's eyes darkened, "I doubt at all, they're all animals."

He nodded and turned to Lauren, his eyes nearly burning holes into her with the way he was staring. "Remember, tomorrow, after she gets out of school."

"I won't forget. Have a good night." He nodded towards her and let himself out.

Chloe's mind raced as she quietly made her way to her bedroom. She shut the door softly and flopped down on her bed. What the hell was going on? If only there was someone who could explain what was happening with her right now and just spell it out.

What was her aunt taking her to tomorrow? What was he even talking about?

So far at the moment there were two things that scared her most or actually three, the wolf, Liam and seeing things that couldn't possibly be real. Derek had said that he would take care of Liam, but how? Liam didn't seem like he could be easily persuaded. What would Derek do?

That is, if he did anything at all.

She stared at the ceiling, wondering, wishing for anything that would get her out of her twisted life. Finally sleep started making its way toward her and finally came upon her.

Rubbing her eyes awake she looked over at her clock and sighed, she had woken up early again. Chloe yawned and stretched. After getting other clothes on and going through her morning routine, she jogged down the stairs ignoring Lauren. When her aunt turned toward her a coffee cup in her hands, she sipped and set it down. "Chloe, I scheduled an appointment for you today."

She froze and turned toward her aunt, "What kind of an appointment?"

Like a therapist, but he's also a doctor in another field." She sipped her coffee again as Chloe took it in.

Chloe narrowed her eyes at her, holding onto her necklace. "You think I'm crazy?"

Lauren's eyes bugged out, "What? No of course not, Sweetie. I just want what's best for you."

Shaking her head, she left the room and grabbed her things, walking out of the door. Lauren caught up to her and said, "Wait, let me just take you to school."

"No, I'm fine." Chloe replied behind her shoulder, feeling angry. She knew that she was crazy, but to be actually thought of as it. It hurt.

During her walk, she saw Liam's car again, but Simon and Derek caught up to her before Liam could approach. She wiped her cheeks, realizing that a few tears had come out. Liam sped past, throwing a wink and a holler toward Chloe.

Simon grumbled and came up beside Chloe, "Hey Chloe."

"Hi," she mumbled and looked at them. "How come you guy's are walking?"

Simon sighed, "Tori jacked the car to take Liz to school."

Chloe nodded in understanding, "I see I'm sorry, that sucks."

"Eh, it's okay. I'm glad we had to walk though or else Liam would've tried to do something." He replied, glancing over at a silent Derek.

She shuddered at the thought, but instead of reflecting more on it she nudged Simon. "So how was last night?"

He grinned brightly, "It was great actually and I'm sorry you had to go, I didn't know that-"

"It's fine, really." Chloe interrupted, ignoring the thoughts of the event with Liam.

Simon smiled at her, like every other day. "Okay, so have you guys already started the history thing?"

They both nodded, the walk to the school was filled with some small talk between Simon and Chloe, with some responses from Derek. When Simon went off to talk to some people he had made friends with, Chloe kept walking, Derek still walking with her. She noticed people staring at them and whispering as they passed.

She turned to him confused. "Why are they staring?"

Derek scowled, but not at her and bit out the words. "A rumor about us,"

Chloe bit her lip and shook her head, immediately thinking of Rae. She exhaled and replied solemnly, "It's bad isn't it?"

He snorted with a humorless smirk. "I doubt you'll like it."

Another person stared at them openly, but Chloe finding her irritation, glared. She glanced up at Derek for a moment and said, "I'm gonna go see who spread it."

She made her way toward the same group of girls with Rae in it and pulled her to the side. Rae scrunched her eye brows and asked, "What?" but then her eyes widened and she stepped back. "Oh hey Chloe,"

"What's the rumor Rae?" She asked bluntly, wanting for an answer.

Rae looked over her head and stalled, "What rumor?"

"Yes, what rumor, because I've heard both." Tori said, coming alongside Chloe with Liz at her side, her glare almost as threatening as Derek's or worse.

Chloe's eyes widened at that, both rumors? She inhaled deeply and stared at Rae calmly, "Tell us."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about." Rae said uneasily, obviously lying.

Tori stepped in closer to her, "Tell us now. I want to know who spread this shit."

"The first one is about Derek breaking that kid's back for fun," Rae replied, her disgust showing and she turned to Chloe, "Also that you and him are dating, someone saw you guys at the carnival yesterday and said you guys left off yesterday together making out."

Chloe's stomach churned, not exactly because of the second rumor, but because there was a rumor in the first place about her. She calmly looked up at Rae, though ready to burst with anger and embarrassment. "Who started it?"

"Yes Rae, who started it?" Tori spat getting closer and closer to Rae and her anger seemed to come out of her fingertips. Liz held her shoulder and did her best to keep her back.

Rae sighed and looked away from them. "I did."

Tori's temper flared, moving toward her, the room felt like it was just buzzing with energy, Chloe was sure her hair was getting a little bit static like. Chloe was almost positive that Tori was about to hit Rae in the face, but Liz held her back with trouble some trouble. "You bitch! You have no idea what the hell you're talking about."

Chloe shook her head and left, pulling Liz along, who still was holding onto Tori.

Liz shook her head in disbelief and let go of Tori who was mumbling to herself. "I can't believe that I was friends with her."

"Same here," Chloe said quietly, her anger intensifying as the people still stared and whispered, looking at her as if she were crazy.

Tori grumbled and turned to Chloe, "Are you going to get back at her?"

She sighed and replied honestly. "I don't know."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were Miss Goody, Goody." She smirked and shook her head. "Stupid people, talk out of their asses."

Chloe glared at her, finding some confidence in herself. "I am not, and what do you suppose I do?"

Her twisted grin came back and Chloe almost regretted asking. "I say we make some rumors of our own."

Liz face palmed and shook her head, "This won't be good."

"No, it will be great. No one messes with my brother, but me." Tori said and sighed dramatically, "Anyways, we're going to have to come up with something absolutely brilliant."

Chloe raised a brow and tilted her head slightly to the side, "Like what?"

Tori sighed pursing her lips in thought. "I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out."

"It also has to be something believable Tori." Liz added, giving her a side look. Liz took Tori's arm and tugged, "Come on, the bell's about to ring. Bye Chloe, you'll be fine, just ignore everyone."

Chloe nodded, starting toward her classroom. Ignore everyone? That would be a bit hard, but she could do it right? She quickly headed into her classroom and sat down, far away from Rae.

Simon sat next to her smiling. "Hey, you okay?"

"You heard the rumors right?" She asked, already guessing that he had.

He nodded and shook his head, his eyes flashing with an anger she hadn't seem before. "People have no idea what they're talking about."

Chloe looked up at the front of the room and took out her pen, "I don't think anyone does anymore."

"True that." Simon agreed.

The rest of class was casually quiet, a little bit of conversation, but Chloe had a ton on her mind and Simon seemed to as well. They walked to their next class and Chloe told him who had spread the rumor.

He gaped at her, "Wow."

"Yep," She said and sighed again, but this time tiredly. Simon stopped mid step, Chloe looked in the direction he was staring in. Liam stood in Derek's face, smirking at him, saying something.

Chloe made her way through people pushing and shoving a little and stopped in front of them. Simon followed her, standing next to her protectively. Liam turned away from Derek for a moment and smiled down at Chloe in his creepy way that made her want to run and maybe barf on the way.

"Well if it isn't the reason for this." He grinned.

Derek growled lowly, speaking quietly. "Stay away from her, it's not that hard."

Liam rolled his eyes and picked up a piece of her hair, but she angrily smacked his hand away, "Ooh feisty." he mused and added, "I like it."

She stepped back away from him, her eyes glancing over at Derek and Simon, but she took a deep breath and walked away, turning on her heel quickly. She couldn't handle this right now too. Why couldn't school be the only easy part to her day, why did it have to be just as frustrating as everything else?

Derek followed after her for an unknown reason, but stopped. Chloe looked behind her at him and smiled half halfheartedly, then went inside her classroom with Simon not too far behind.

**Please REVIEW ;)**

-**Vanessa:D**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own.**

Chapter Seven….

Class couldn't seem to take any longer. It felt like each second took a lot longer than it should for Chloe. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched the clock. She didn't want to keep feeling the stares on the back of her head, much less think of the appointment with that man she had seen at her house the night before.

There were a lot of things she didn't want to do. She didn't want Liam harassing her, she didn't want Derek to have to always stand up for her when it came to Liam. She didn't want to make the mistake of having a friend that made rumors about her again, and she didn't want to feel like she was different from everyone else.

All of these thoughts were swirling through her head, bombarding her at every chance they got. It was ultimately making her feel sick. Chloe leaned her head on her hand and looked away from the clock, setting her gaze to the window.

A tree stood in front of the window, blocking a lot of the view of everything else beyond it. She stared at it, liking the view better than that of the classroom or the clock.

Closing her eyes for a moment, or for what felt like a moment, Chloe sighed tiredly. The ring of the bell made her flinch slightly as she opened her eyes. After gathering her things she made her way out of the door, avoiding the strange looks she received. Tori came up to her side and leaned down slightly as she spoke to her. "I think I have a good enough rumor for now."

"Oh, what about?" Chloe felt like she should feel guilty about it, but at the same time, she believed that Rae kind of deserved what was coming for her.

Tori shrugged slightly, glaring at the people who stared as they walked by. "It'll be Rae going lesbian, trying to get on my friend which will be Liz."

For once, Chloe had something to laugh about. She muffled her giggles with her hand. She knew it was horrible and very untrue, but she couldn't help it. The desire to get some type of revenge clawed at her.

She shook her head at Tori. "That is just…wow."

Tori smirked, "I know. Well, see you later. We'll get the rumor going after lunch."

Chloe nodded and waved, seeing Tori roll her eyes in response. She headed into her classroom without a word to anyone and sat in her seat. Rae went to her table and stood there for a moment before clearing her throat. "I want to apologize to you Chloe."

Chloe lifted her head up to look at her. She scanned her figure, her eyes narrowing. "I-It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters," She replied, "I need you to know that I didn't mean for this to happen."

Her temper flared, it didn't always seem so easy to get this…angry at someone. But Rae had crossed a line, you don't befriend someone and pretend like you're friends and then go and spread a rumor about them, especially one that was so untrue that it made her sick to even look at Rae.

Clearing her thoughts she looked away from Rae and took in a small breath. "If you t-truly didn't mean for this to h-happen you wouldn't have spread this lie."

Rae bit her lip and then set her full attention on her. "Maybe it's possible that I thought I saw you with Derek at the carnival."

"That's because I was with him, but not for the reason you're thinking of. But, you know w-what? I don't need to explain this to you. One thing I-I should explain is though, is that y-you shouldn't make up rumors or spread something y-you have no idea what you're t-talking about. It will only bite you back, Rae."

She seemed almost startled by Chloe's little outburst. Rae turned and walked away, not giving another look toward her. Liz came over and took Rae's place.

"Hey, so how did that go?" Liz asked, a small smile playing at her lips

Chloe smiled at her warmly, keeping her cool. "It went well except I'm pretty sure you heard the whole thing."

Liz sighed and then winked at her, "Yep, sorry Chloe couldn't help it. You were so close and it was getting a bit interesting so…"

"It's okay. I don't care, but I'm a bit worried about the rumor revenge thing." Chloe confessed, looking at her desk.

"Me too," She put her hand over Chloe's and gave her a look of reassurance. "It'll be fine, promise."

Chloe tucked a piece of her blond hair behind her ear and nodded, "Okay, thanks."

Liz nodded and faced forward as the teacher walked in, considerably late. Sitting next to Liz, she felt a tiny bit better about the rumors and all that was going on. But it didn't extinguish the thoughts of everything running through her head, not one bit.

The class seemed to go by faster and soon it was lunch. By now, everyone knew about the rumor and was going on about it with strange stares toward her and others that were worse for Derek that were all full of horror. Even though she wasn't that close to the guy, it still made her mad that people would judge before knowing the full truth.

It wasn't like she knew what had happened, much less the reason why he would do such a thing. It could've been accident from self defense, or anything on those terms. She couldn't really picture him breaking someone's back on purpose. But then again people can be what you think they aren't.

Chloe shook her head. It was wrong to keep thinking of it, no matter how much she wanted to know. It wasn't her business.

She sat at the first table she saw in the left side corner of the room. Taking a look around her at all of the teens eating and talking, some glancing at her, she took it in and sighed. Chloe took out her journal, rereading where she had left off again in her notes for the idea she had gotten.

Feeling someone behind her, she turned her head and nearly jumped. Liam went and took a seat next to her, his smile intact. "Chloe, it's so nice to…see you."

Chloe picked up her things and got up to leave, but he stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Where are you going, cutie? How about this, you stay here and I'll leave, but you have to meet me outside of the gym after school and if you don't. I will beat the living shit out of your little friend _Derek_ and then some more. Understand?"

Angry, but frightened by the threat, she nodded, not having any words to say. Liam left then, squeezing her shoulder a bit too hard making her want to cry out in pain. But she held it in and whimpered as she lightly touched the spot but cringed as it spread with pain. She bit her lip hard and turned around on the bench putting her head down on her notebook. His presence and threat was quick and firmly frightening. She just sat there for how ever many minutes went by hearing his words run through her head.

"Hey Chloe." Liz said smiling as she sat down on the bench in front of her with Tori at her side. She looked at her again as Chloe lifted her head from the table. "You okay? Was Liam here?"

Chloe looked up and smiled weakly, "Yeah, but I'm fine no worries."

Liz raised a hesitant brow, "You sure?"

She nodded and smiled fixing her hair back in place. "Yeah,"

Tori suddenly smirked at something and glanced over at Chloe and Liz. She winked at her and cleared her throat as she turned toward Simon who was walking near by. "Simon why don't you come sit by Liz?"

Simon narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, "What is your problem Tori?"

"What do you mean? I'm just trying to be nice, jeez." She responded flippantly, crossing her arms over her chest.

He held a hand to his forehead shaking his head, "That's the point. You don't do nice."

Tori glared at him, "Well I am right now, so sit next to her damn it."

"Okay, okay!" Simon gave in and after flashing a smile at Liz sat where Tori had been. Chloe looked at Tori strangely for a moment but then sighed and didn't care anymore about Tori's strange motives or ideas. Her shoulder hurt too much to care and the little drenched dead boy was staring at her from the window. Chloe wanted nothing more than to make it all go away.

Chloe focused on the table and watched as Liz blushed as Simon scooted a bit closer to her. Chloe smiled a little, seeing her recent friend seem so happy.

"So I heard you saying Liz's name in your sleep last night Simon, what were dreaming of anyways?" The smile on Tori's face was smug as Simon's mouth dropped open and his face flamed a bright red.

Liz blushed brightly and looked down at her hands. Simon sputtered and shook his head, "Shut the hell up, Tori."

Tori raised her hands in front of her and smirked, "Whatever you say, Wimp." Then she asked Simon, "Where's Derek?"

Simon took a bite of his sandwich and breathed in before speaking, "In line, over there."

She nodded and beckoned Derek over once he was out of the line. He had an irritated look etched over his face as he came over. Chloe wondered if it was from the rumors too. Then again, he always seemed a bit annoyed.

"I don't usually sit with you guys, but this is slightly important." Tori said, glancing between everyone.

Derek took his seat next to Simon across from her. He rolled his eyes, "I don't see how this is important, you're just making a rumor of your own until it's a war of who can make the best rumor between you and that girl."

Simon finished his sandwich and took a gulp of water. "It'll be funny to watch, Bro."

"It's not funny when there's already a set of rumors about you."

Chloe closed her journal and put it back in her bag, "I second that."

Simon glanced over at Liz, sending her small smile and then turned back to Derek and Chloe, "Well, now we know that everyone knows who you guys are."

Without even trying to hold back, Chloe groaned and held a hand to her head. She didn't want everyone to know who she was. She wanted to be hidden in the crowd, not be noticed. And yet just the opposite was happening.

Liz reached across the small table and laid a hand on her shoulder, but Chloe flinched at the contact feeling the small burst of pain swell in her shoulder and tried not to make a sound.

Her blonde friend quickly retracted her hand, "Are you okay?"

"Um yeah, I'm fine thanks." Chloe replied stiffly, touching her shoulder a little, remembering who had done it so easily.

Liz didn't seem to believe her, but nodded slowly. Chloe could feel Derek's eyes on her, so she stopped touching her shoulder and laid her hands in her lap.

Simon took another drink of his water and then glanced over at Tori hearing her mumbling to herself about something. "What are you doing?"

Tori shook her head slightly, "None of your business, now that you guys are done talking we're gonna start the rumor."

Simon and Derek both rolled their eyes and shared a similar look. Chloe watched silently, wondering how this would turn out. "Okay so Liz you're gonna be the victim here and I'm gonna be the witness to Rae trying to get you to make out with her okay?"

"This is the dumbest thing you've ever done." Derek said with a sigh.

Tori seemed to have ignored the remark and left the table, going over to a girl Chloe recognized as Amber. She leaned down and whispered in the girl's ear, nodding when Amber had said something, her eyes wide.

Liz shook her head and then took a drink of her soda, "And now it's in motion."

Chloe watched as the rumor spread like wild fire, someone tapped her on her unhurt shoulder. It was a guy in their grade, Nate. "Hey, I don't know you very well, but did you hear about Rae? I've seen you guys hang out with her before so I wasn't sure if you had heard that she's gone lesbo."

Feeling pretty bad, she decided to go with it anyways and said, "Yeah, I d-did. My friend actually was getting pressured to make out with her, crazy right?"

He nodded and turned all the way around with a smile, "Yep, definitely. I'm Nate, and you're Chloe right?"

She nodded timidly, but smiled. "T-that's me."

"Awesome, so maybe we should hang out sometime." Nate said with a wink.

Liz came over and sat next to Chloe her smile brightening Chloe's mood somewhat. "Hey, Chloe can I talk to you? It's important."

"Yes, of course." Chloe replied, sending an apologetic look towards Nate.

She pulled Chloe away right as the bell rang, and leaned toward her. "He's desperate."

Chloe scrunched her eyes together in confusion, "What?"

"Nate asks out every girl he sees and tries to get with them. He's really desperate and believe me, you can do a lot better Chloe. I don't have to know you a long time to figure that out."

Chloe nodded and smiled at the compliment, thankful that Liz had saved her from something that could've been another mistake to deal with. "He didn't seem that bad though."

Liz licked her lips and smiled at Simon as he passed, "Well, that's until he won't stop bugging you. Soon, you'll want to find a way to escape his presence."

"I already have to do that, but not with h-him." Chloe replied distractedly as she thought of her shoulder and Liam's threat on Derek.

Her friend nodded in agreement, "That's why you don't want two guys now! That would really suck."

Chloe pulled her hair to the side and murmured, "It would, well I'm gonna go to class, later."

"Bye Chloe," Liz smiled and quickly hugged her, giving her a short wave as she went the opposite way.

Out of all the places to go in the school, she liked the library the best. It was quiet and somewhere she could finish her work in. Finding her seat, the one she usually sat in, Chloe took out her Math homework begrudgingly. What she hated most about math was how she couldn't seem to comprehend it very well or grasp it. When it came to English, it was easy, simple even, for her.

Trying her hand at the first problem she didn't realize someone had sat down next to her. She lifted her head from her work and glanced over at the person in wonder. But she gasped and nearly screamed. It was him again.

_Why_? She asked in thought, utterly and completely freaked out. It was only her imagination she tried to reason with herself. But then he touched her, or at least tried to. But his hand went right through her. Covering her mouth and scooting away from it quickly, she almost fell out of her chair.

Her breath hitched as he came face to face with her. She swallowed and held her breath. "Why do I keep seeing you?" She whispered.

The guy, she bit her lip and nearly groaned, Ryan laughed, pulling back slightly away from her face. If she wasn't crazy and he wasn't apart of her crazy imagination, she'd think that he was pretty good looking. But then again, she did pretty good creating some imaginary freak that enjoyed bugging the hell out of her.

Ryan rolled his eyes at her expression and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Okay Necro, it seems like I'm gonna have to spell this out for you. And maybe you can actually think you're not crazy, because you're not unless you want to kill and experiment on people than you are completely fucked up. And there's no way I'd help you there."

Chloe opened her mouth to speak but he held up a hand and shook his head, "I'm not done. Now, like I said, you aren't crazy, but different. You are a Necromancer, it's the reason why you can see me and other ghosts and soon, raise the dead as well as control them. Hopefully I could say that in simple enough terms for you to understand. So now you can help me."

"Help you? Why w-would I help you, I have e-enough of my own p-problems." Chloe said in a hushed whisper, looking around to make sure no one would see her talking.

Ryan tilted his head to the side slightly and sent her an irritated look. "You know your stutter's really annoying. And you need to help me there is no one else to. I'm not about to get on my knees and beg, but I have been through things that you can't even begin to fathom. I have done things against my will and even killed my own brother. You try going through that and not be mentally screwed up."

Chloe's eyes widened and she gasped, just picturing someone do something like that to their own flesh and blood was so horrible, it was something that didn't seem possible. No matter the things she heard about crazy moms killing their own kids, it still was not comprehensible.

She stood and grabbed her bag, stuffing her papers in carelessly, running out of the library. She saw a glimpse of Derek look up at her, and some other people, but she didn't stop. Ryan had disappeared, an angry look set upon his features.

Pushing open the girls' bathroom door she went over to the sink and splashed water on her face. She breathed heavily and stared at the mirror.

"I wouldn't go to the appointment after school." Someone said, popping up near the mirror, a girl's reflection showing.

Chloe jumped and screamed, but calmed down seeing the girl. "S-sorry, wait w-what did you say?"

The girl had long brown hair and pale skin, with blue eyes. She sighed and put a hand on Chloe's shoulder, but it went right through, the girl shook her head, "Please don't scream." She pleaded, her eyes almost begging.

Nodding slightly, she bit back another shriek but complied and moved away from her, the ghost or whatever it was. If Ryan was truly real, then she had to at least give the thought a chance. "W-who are you?"

"I'm Haley Thompson." She said, her eyes filled with a deep sadness as she looked away from Chloe.

The shock of hearing her name was beginning to make her freak out. "You're the girl who-"

"Yeah, I am."

Chloe started to laugh hysterically, on the verge of crying. "W-why me? H-how is this possible?"

Haley closed her eyes for a moment and spoke, "Being what you are isn't a bad thing Chloe."

"H-how do you know m-my name?"

"I've been following you. There's something different about you, besides being a Necro, that much is obviously clear. But, you can't go to that appointment." Haley replied, fixing her gaze back on her.

Chloe gulped, "Why can't I? I-I mean I don't want to, but…" She trailed off not sure where to go from there.

"You just can't. Don't go, it will only lead to bad things." Haley sent her a lingering look and then disappeared."

"I wouldn't go to that appointment either, Necro. That girl's right and I need you alive to help me." Ryan said, coming out of no where into the girl's bathroom.

Chloe had about enough, her heart was racing and her sanity felt like it was draining. She pushed him away, remembering how it had worked before. He quickly disappeared, leaving Chloe to lean against the wall, breathing heavily. After a few minutes of trying to gather her thoughts and feelings together, she made her way out of the bathroom and back to the library. No one seemed to notice her come back luckily. She sat at the same table, knowing full well that it wouldn't matter if Ryan tried to come back, that he would come either way anywhere she was.

All of this almost made her believe that maybe all of those stupid shows she had seen about ghosts and movies based on true stories could somehow be real. When she was younger she thought she used to see the craziest things and it was always thought to be just apart of her imagination, but maybe it was what she was seeing now. What she was going through.

This wasn't an easy thing to accept on a dime, but if it was consistent then maybe she had no choice than to take it in stride. If this somehow happened to be the truth then why should she live scared of it, if it's apart of her life then she needs to accept it and move on.

But in the end if she was crazy, then how could she deal with that? It would be hard, it was already hard. Just trying to figure out whether you were essentially crazy or somehow not screwed up in the head was already as confusing as it could get.

The bell rang and her stomach turned, it was getting closer to the end of the day. Closer to the appointment she was warned not to go to and what she had almost forgotten, Liam meeting her and then seeing Derek for the project. Walking slowly, seeing people pass her by in almost a different perspective she tried to calm herself.

Derek strode in next to her through the hallway filled with crowded teens and practically cleared the hallway as people avoided him. "I've started the model. How far are you on the paper?"

Clearing her thoughts and focusing on Derek she said, "Um, I'm almost done, but it's only the rough draft. I'll get it done over the weekend though."

He nodded, seeming to be deep in thought. Chloe glanced at him again, "So we should s-start the presentation board Monday I guess and n-not meet today right?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

She nodded and turned to her classroom, "Well, uh later." Chloe quickly turned into the theater room before he could say another word and sighed as she took her seat.

After a long period, a period that couldn't last long enough, it was finally the last bell. Chloe was dreading it, she wasn't sure how she'd get out of going to the appointment, but she'd find a way. Somehow it felt like it wouldn't be right to go. But at the moment she couldn't think of that. She had to focus on hopefully getting herself out of the situation she was about to be in with Liam, that was much worse.

She tried to walk as slow as possible, hoping that he would forget, hoping that maybe he would just leave if she took long enough, but Liam was waiting in an area without anyone by the gym. It was obscured by shadows from under the trees. She slowed her pace upon seeing him, her heart clenched and sped.

_I have to get through this._ Chloe thought. If she didn't then Derek would get beaten and she didn't want that and if she ran now the consequences could only get worse. It didn't matter that Derek was a big guy and could probably hold his own, but there was something about Liam that was scary, threatening. And she really didn't want or need something bad to happen to him because of her. It wasn't right and she'd feel more than guilty.

Walking faster and taking a deep breath, straightening her posture and trying to be strong, she stood in front of him. "I'm here, n-now what do y-you want?" His smirk, all in all made her sick. It was one of those looks that you just knew deep down in your gut that it wasn't good. It meant something wrong was mostly going through their head.

Liam walked toward her, pulling her farther to the side of the school. The gym doors were out of her sight, where no one went to for some reason she noticed. He leaned flush against her, after getting her back to the wall.

She gulped and turned away from him. He nudged her with his nose, "Hmm, you smell good enough to eat. But what I really want is a good time, Cutie."

Chloe was scared out of her mind. Was she going to get molested or even raped right outside of the school with no one to help her, to hear her, because they were on the side that no one went to? Just because it was dark and it was also where Haley, the crazy girl, had died?

She shook her head, her heart pounding so hard against her chest that she thought it'd burst and come right out of her chest, that or self combust.

Chloe shook as he leaned close and began to kiss her neck and dip his hand down under shirt. She tried to scream and struggle herself away from him, but he pulled back and put a hand to her mouth, giving her a look of hostility that shook her in fear from the inside out.

She bit his hand without a second thought and tried to get away from him, but he grabbed her by the arm and slammed her back into the wall with a growl, "I will get what I want and you aren't going to stop me."

Screaming, before he could put his hand to her mouth again, she yelled out as loud as she could, "H-help!"

He smacked her across the face, her head banging back forcefully against the wall. She yelped in pain and felt the stream of tears fall from her cheeks as her vision blurred slightly.

"No one can hear you. Now be a good little girl and stay still." Liam brushed her hair to the side, touching her cheek as she stopped squirming, knowing it was useless. "That wasn't so hard was it?"

There was nothing she could do now. He overpowered her by a ton. It was useless to try and fight, it was a lost cause. In her thoughts she pleaded for someone to come, for someone to rescue her somehow. This was stupid of her, how could she think that coming here by herself would be a good idea.

Liam pulled back a little and grinned at her, his hand going up her shirt higher, he started to pull off his belt with one hand but he didn't get far enough, because at one moment Liam was standing there ready to take off his pants and then the next someone came and tackled him to the ground. The sound of his large body smacking into the asphalt produced a extremely loud thud to echo in the secluded area.

In utter shock she watched as Derek starting swinging his fists at Liam's face over and over again, the sound of flesh hitting flesh was loud and painful. She heard Simon come over not far from where Derek was on top of Liam. His eyes widened as he took in the scene and then he saw her.

He ran over, his eyes filled with a worry that she couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty for, "Are you okay?"

Chloe's throat was tight and thick. She felt like there was something in it blocking her from speaking. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, nothing but the stream of tears. Simon embraced her then and rubbed her back in small soothing circles. "Shh, it's okay Chloe. Everything will be alright."

She couldn't help the sobs that came out. She vaguely heard Simon call for Tori and Liz as her body froze from realizing what would've really happened if they hadn't come. If Derek hadn't stopped him when he did.

"Oh my god, Chloe!" Liz exclaimed and took Chloe from Simon in a hug. The hug hurt, everything in her body seemed to hurt. Liz walked with Chloe, but she was numb, her mind felt like it was shutting down, everything was shutting down. Nothing like that had ever even come close to happening and for it to almost happen like that, it made her sick. It was like the little scene that had just occurred had taken such a toll on her, including the ghost incidents that she blacked out, hearing Liz's panicked voice and Tori's demanding one above her. But above all she heard the punches of Derek and Liam as they fought on the ground, and she was afraid, afraid that things would end badly.

**Please REVIEW! :)**

**-Vanessa:D**


	8. Chapter Eight

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I'm not cool enough to own. **

Chapter Eight…..

There was a vague sound of voices beginning to fill her ears and was becoming louder as each second passed. Chloe swallowed thickly, her eyes slowly opening and the first thing she noticed was the immediate ache of throbbing going on in her head. The voices stopped. Her eyes focused on the unfamiliar room around her and she made her way to sit up, but abruptly stopped feeling a slight pain in her back and even more in her head.

Liz sat down next to her and gently pushed Chloe back onto her pillow. "Hey, you've been asleep for a little while."

"Where am I?" Chloe demanded, looking around seeing Derek, Simon and Tori talking in a corner quietly at one side of the room.

Her friend held onto her hand and smiled down at her slightly, "You're at my house. How are you feeling?"

Chloe sighed and leaned back farther into the pillows and closed her eyes, "Like crap." Suddenly her eyes widened and the recent events flowed in, tears started to prick at her eyes. "W-where, w-where is he?"

Tori made her way over, a scowl etched across her face, but as she stood by the bed her face softened some, "He's currently still by the school unconscious."

She paused and sighed, "You were still knocked out so we just left him after Derek and Simon dealt with him. We didn't want to turn him in if you were still asleep so at least you could get the situation out the way it happened."

Chloe nodded slowly, looking down at her hands, "Please t-tell me that my aunt d-doesn't know."

Simon came over then, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "She doesn't know, we haven't called her yet."

"Y-yet? N-no, we're not calling her." Chloe stuttered her eyes filled with worry and anxiety and the thought of her aunt knowing only made her head hurt more.

Tori looked at her like as if she had just grown a third head and shook her head, "Are you crazy? He needs to get what he deserves."

Chloe sighed, "Nothing g-good will come out of t-this."

"Oh so you think that letting him do this to you will make it any better?" She argued, glaring at her as she splayed her arm towards her.

Chloe sat up, ignoring the pain and breathed in, "I'm not going to let this happen again, I refuse it."

Tori snorted, "Oh so just because your highness refuses it, he'll just stop? Are you that stupid? Especially when he's-"

"Stop Tori." Derek snapped suddenly. He walked closer to the bed and peered down at Chloe.

Her body froze, Derek's lip was split and some bruises could be seen over his face. The tee-shirt he was wearing was tighter on him, showing the muscles that Chloe had suspected were likely there, but she couldn't help but stare at him and feel all the more guilty. This was what she was trying to prevent, what she hadn't meant to happen.

It was her fault again.

She wasn't sure what to say as she gaped at him, but looking back down at her hands she slowly forced her gaze up and looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry Derek,"

He grunted, without looking at her. "Don't worry about it."

"You shouldn't get h-hurt for something that wasn't your problem to begin with. And I'm sorry that y-you got in the middle of it." Chloe replied, looking away from him and the others.

Tori rolled her eyes, "It was his choice and if he wanted to help then just say thanks and stop complaining."

Walking over and sitting down next to Liz, Simon sent Tori a dirty look and glanced over at Chloe. "Just don't worry about it okay? We're friends right? So friends should stick up for friends."

Liz smiled and took Chloe's hand, "Yeah, he's right and even though we're more like fast friends, its okay, friends are friends either way."

Chloe nodded, a smile brightening her face. "Thanks." She frowned suddenly, her eyes widened. "She's going to be looking for me." She muttered and started to get out of the bed, but Liz and Tori stopped her.

Tori shook her head, "You need to stay there for a little longer Chloe. You don't need to go off doing anything more stupid."

"I know, but I need to go before my aunt starts freaking out. She's making me go to this…thing today." Chloe thought of Ryan and Haley, grimacing at their warnings.

"Well, just text her that you're at a friends house studying or something for now and then you can go." Simon suggested.

Chloe slowly nodded and looked back over at Derek. She still felt bad. Either way he had gotten hurt and was making her feel bad. She sighed. Why did these things happen?

Derek crossed his arms over his chest, "As soon as she's fine we should take her home."

Tori nodded, "Yeah," She glanced back over to Chloe and shook her head at her, "Chloe, I really don't think you should let this slide."

Pursing her lips, Chloe looked away. "I don't want to, but it's not like we really have solid proof of him trying anything. They'd just say I was making it up or something."

"And how do you know that if you haven't tried? This is wrong. Liam needs his ass to be taken to jail." Tori replied furiously as she stared at Chloe with hard eyes, though she could see the worry in her eyes even though she knew Tori would never admit to it.

Liz grabbed Chloe's hand again in both of her small hands, "For right now I think all that matters is that you're okay."

Chloe nodded without feeling the least bit convinced. She glanced over at Derek again, studying him, trying to figure out what was going on through his head. He looked up at her.

She didn't move her eyes away from him, but after a moment Chloe sighed and looked away, moving to the side of the bed. "I'm okay now, really."

Simon took her hand and helped her up with Liz at his side. Chloe faked a smile and rubbed her aching shoulder. She grabbed her phone and found a couple missed calls and messages from Lauren.

She didn't want to answer back. Wincing a little, there was that feeling again. The nervous one making her feel worried about going to the appointment, almost as nervous as she felt being alone with Liam. But at the same time she needed to go, she needed to see whether she was really crazy or if Ryan and Haley were really there.

Chloe walked alongside Simon and Derek after bidding Tori and Liz a goodbye since Tori was going to stay at Liz's house. On the way out Chloe had gotten Liz's number and had promised to text her as soon as she was safely at home at the demand of Liz.

As they walked in silence Chloe couldn't help but ponder what would've happened. Liam could've really-

She shook off the thought, biting the inside of her mouth with a gulp. Chloe looked ahead and saw a couple talking. She narrowed her eyes to see better, it was hard to see considering the amount of trees in the way. Getting closer Chloe could see a man and a woman. The woman appeared to be yelling and trying to rip her arms away from the man's hold where he was gripping her tightly.

Chloe watched in horror as the man threw the woman to the ground and took the knife from his back pocket and stabbed her over and over again without pause, grinning all the while. Chloe stopped in her tracks, a scream bubbling from the back of her throat. She watched the man drop the knife and then look around, his eyes finding her own.

Staggering back into Derek she watched as it started over again. This was a death, something that had to have happened a long time ago if it was even real. She couldn't help but shake and clench her hands into small tight fists as she watched the scene play out again, the man stabbing over and over again in such joy. Derek touched her shoulder with a raised brow, "What's wrong with you, Chloe?"

She tried to calm herself, to look away and not shake near him. Chloe took in a deep shuddery breath and slowly turned away from the scene into Derek's chest. She pressed her face into his chest and tried not to cry, it was hard because the scene wouldn't stop playing in her head. All she could see was the man's face as he murdered that woman. Chloe felt Derek stiffen in front of her and awkwardly pat her shoulder.

Derek looked to Simon with a confused expression for help. Simon shrugged and looked ahead of them where Chloe had been staring.

After calming herself, Chloe realized what she was doing and moved back away from him, her cheeks flushed and she rubbed her neck avoiding his eyes. "I-I," she swallowed thickly, "I'm sorry."

He appeared unfazed, though she could see through his eyes that he was confused, "It's okay." He averted his eyes and cleared his throat, "What did you see?"

"Something I didn't want to see," She muttered under her breath, but inhaling she shook her head and did her best to show him that she was fine. "Nothing, I'm sorry, I'm just a little-"

"Chloe you saw something didn't you?" Simon asked with a glance toward Derek.

Chloe looked back and forth between them, shuddering against the slight breeze. She shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing and tried not to look in the murder scenes direction. "It doesn't matter, just my imagination is all." She murmured.

Derek didn't look nearly as convinced as Simon seemed to be, but she ignored it and started walking forward. But she flinched and nearly cursed as the man started stabbing the woman again off to the side in front of the house.

The walk the rest of the way was quiet and a little awkward as Chloe did her best not to pay attention to what she wanted to believe was ghosts instead of her imagination. As soon as they made it to her house she turned to them and smiled half heartedly, but gratefully. "Thank you for walking me home guys."

"No problem." Simon replied as Derek nodded, seeming distracted again.

She waved and went into the house where Lauren sat at the dinning room table on the phone. She waved and ended her call. "Did you get hung up at school?"

Chloe nodded, "Yeah, sorry."

Lauren stood, stretching her arms with a deep sigh. "Well I think we should go now, we're already a little bit late."

Arriving at the clinic, Chloe wasn't feeling well with the ache in her head and the pain in her shoulder bothering her, as well as the double bonus of a strange feeling of fear creep up on her. She walked in with her aunt nervously playing with hands behind her as they went into a room.

The man she had heard the night before sat at a desk wearing a pleasant smile. The fear she felt inside only grew as he took her in. "Hello Chloe, my name is Dr. Davidoff."

Chloe smiled weakly back and shook his hand politely, but timidly. "H-hello."

Lauren opened the door turning back to Chloe and smiled encouragingly, "I'll be outside."

Watching her go made Chloe want to scream like a little kid for her to stay, but she bit it back and smiled back. She measured her breaths and tried to seem normal, and hopefully not as anxious as she felt.

"How are doing today, Chloe? Do mind if I call you Chloe?" Dr. Davidoff asked.

She shook her head and inhaled a tight breath, "I'm good."

"Well that's great. Now how are you dealing with your mother's death?"

Narrowing her eyes, Chloe stared at him. _That was straight to the point._ She thought dryly. "M-may I ask you why I'm here?" She gestured in between them, "Why we're having this conversation."

His eyes twinkled in a strange way and he sighed. He looked down at a sheet of paper and pursed his lips. "Well you see it's only because your aunt is worried about you. She just wants to see that everything is okay with you."

Chloe nodded as if she understood, though she knew that there had to be more to it than that. "Okay then."

Dr. Davidoff put down the paper and folded his hands on the table. "I'm going to ask you some questions Chloe, I would like you to answer them honestly."

With a stiff nod Chloe waited for him to start. "Have you been seeing anything recently? Things you think that aren't real, things that no one else sees?"

Her heart felt like it stopped. Her mind was shooting off sirens screaming don't answer that question but she pushed it away and nodded again.

He nodded thoughtfully and looked down at the paper and then back up to her, "What do you see Chloe?"

She bit her lip and looked away from him, "Why are you asking me these things?"

Dr. Davidoff sighed. "You're aunt is afraid that you may be schizophrenic."

"What? Why? Where does that even come from?" Chloe demanded, nearly standing up.

He raised a hand and gave her a calm but stern look, "Just please calm down first."

"Calm down? You're telling me to calm down when you're saying that she thinks I'm a schizo? This is crazy!" She yelled.

A group of nurses came in the room then and took a hold of her arms. One had a needle and pushed it into her arm. Chloe felt the room spinning, darkening. She swore she heard her mother's voice calling to her, but she couldn't be sure. She couldn't be sure of anything at the moment.

**I hope it wasn't too bad, review:D**

**-Vanessa**


	9. Chapter Nine

**Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed! I love you guys! **** Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Still not cool enough to own. **

Chapter Nine.

Chloe was pretty sure that if she woke up again in an unknown place, where something bad had just happened right before, she'd never leave the safety of her home again. As Chloe took in the white room around her, she tried to lift her arm up to brush her hair off of her forehead, but came to an abrupt stop as she felt the thick straps keeping her down. Panic swelled in her chest and she was sure that there was nothing she could do, but even in being so sure it didn't stop the instinct in her to thrash around and try to break free. After a long few minutes she was huffing and nearly out of breath, it was no use, she couldn't break free if her life depended on it.

Doing her best to keep herself from panicking anymore than she already was, Chloe closed her eyes and sucked in a few shaky breaths. She tried to imagine something happy, something normal that would make her calm down and think somewhat straight if she could. Hearing the door ahead of her click open suddenly, she immediately raised her head and glared at Dr. Davidoff as he leaned over her.

"Let me go." She demanded, trying once again to break free from the restricting straps giving her pink burns on her wrists.

Dr. Davidoff shook his head with a small sigh, "I'm afraid that we're going to have to keep you like this until you are calm and less destructive."

Chloe gulped, doing her best to keep the anger she felt inside from bursting. She sucked in a small breath and relaxed her body. "I'm fine, I won't try anything. Just p-please let me go, t-this has just come as a s-shock to me."

Nodding somewhat reluctantly, Dr. Davidoff studied her for a moment longer before releasing her from the straps. Chloe sat up slowly; fear and anger gnawing at her chest as she was sat nearly face to face with Dr. Davidoff. She rubbed her wrists, pushing back the tears and stared at the floor. "W-where is my aunt?"

The door opened then and Lauren rushed in, she embraced Chloe and rubbed her back soothingly. "I'm glad you've calmed down Chloe."

Chloe swallowed thickly. "A-am, am I really s-schizophrenic?"

Lauren turned and shared a look with Dr. Davidoff, but after a moment she faced Chloe and cupped her cheek. "Chloe, it seems like with all of these things you've been seeing that you are."

Narrowing her eyes, Chloe inclined her head toward Dr. Davidoff. "Can we talk alone Aunt Lauren?"

Lauren nodded and smiled. Dr. Davidoff bowed his head a little and left the room, shutting the door behind him quietly with a soft click. Chloe let out a tense breath and inched away from Lauren. "How do you even know that I have been seeing things? How could you come to this conclusion at all?"

"Chloe, at night you've been getting up and talking to things, or what you think are people. The school called me and told me that a staff member saw you talking to someone who wasn't even there. I'm just worried about you honey, this isn't normal, so I had to see what was up. But with this medicine that you'll get, the things you think you see should go away."

Chloe's chest was tight, so tight that it hurt to even breathe. She nodded like she understood and closed her eyes. "Just get me out of here, I want to go home."

Lauren nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Chloe looked around the room and saw something move. She stared at the spot and saw Haley walk over. Haley sat down beside her on the bed and laid her hand on Chloe's or at least tried to. "I told you not to come."

"Why? Because you knew that I'd be crazy? That I would only find out the truth that this is all in my head; that I'm just as jacked up as I thought I'd be?" Chloe rubbed her face and lifted her head to glare. "And yet even knowing this, I still seem to talk to you like you're real. This is such a mess."

Haley shook her head. "No, you're wrong. You're not crazy, neither was I, or least not any crazier than the average person. We're both special, you should know this Chloe. Ryan has told you before, you're a Necromancer. I was too. That's why I died, I thought it was a real person chasing me, but it was a ghost that needed my help. I was scared."

"No, no way. This is ridiculous, that doesn't just happen. Necromancers aren't real. This isn't happening." Chloe covered her face with her hands.

Haley sighed next to her, "I want you to look me up on the internet, see my face and try to explain how you have been seeing me, if you've only ever heard of my name. Don't let yourself become like me, don't try to push it away so much or it'll come after you."

Hearing the door click and open, Chloe stood, seeing that Haley had disappeared. Aunt Lauren held a bag, probably with the meds they would want her to take and ushered her out. "Dr. Davidoff has advised for you to take it easy, if things get worse at school then we'll have to take you out of school altogether and to a group home for a while. But if you keep doing better and have no incidents then everything should be fine, alright?"

"I understand." Even though Chloe didn't, and wasn't really listening to her, all she could think about was Haley and what she had said.

As soon as they had gotten home and after a long lecture about the meds she had to take, Chloe hopped right onto her laptop and searched Haley's accident on the web. Reading about the incident, Chloe found that they had claimed Haley to be mentally out of it in basic terms. They had said witnesses claimed to have seen her screaming about something she saw, something that had been chasing her. When Chloe saw her picture, she cringed. It was definitely the girl she had been seeing. Shutting her laptop, she lay down in bed and closed her eyes tightly, thinking it all over. Was there a chance that maybe she wasn't crazy but really a necromancer, or something of the sort?

Considering what had gone on the night before she was surprised to even be at school this easily. School wasn't even an escape either despite the fact that Liam had been somewhat dealt with, but that didn't mean it was the end of him either. Walking into school, she went to her locker and dropped some of her things off and grabbed the other things she needed for class. Chloe was jittery to say the least. She was nervous that the staff member who had seen her talking to something would see her again, or that Liam would appear or just as bad, Ryan.

"Chloe!" Liz and Tori came by her side and walked with her as Liz hugged her from the side. "How are you?"

Chloe didn't try for the smile that she normally would have, but squeezed her back in their little side hug, "I'm fine."

Tori snorted, "Doubtful."

Ignoring her, Chloe kept walking and left them behind. She didn't particularly feel like talking to anyone at the moment. She wanted nothing more than to be by herself.

As the day went by, rather slowly Chloe thought it seemed like things were really starting to heat up. Rae looked like she wanted to kill someone. At lunch Chloe sat down at their table and saw Rae stop in front of Liz and Tori. Standing up, Chloe walked over nervously and found Simon heading over too. She stopped by Liz's side and watched as Rae glared at Tori, "I know it was you, it was you who started the rumors about me."

Tori smirked at her, "Who said they were rumors? They're the _truth_ right?"

Rae's hands were tightly clenched at her sides, Chloe was sure that Rae would do something. It was almost a little scary how angry she was getting, but looking at Tori, she didn't even seem to notice or if she did she didn't seem to care.

"It's not true."

"Oh of course it's not, but is that just because it's about you? Doesn't it feel nice to have things like this said about you?" Tori asked, she laughed and glared right back at Rae, "You're pathetic."

Tori shook her head at her and turned around, but Rae grabbed her arm forcefully. Tori yelped and pulled back her arm, her eyes widened at Rae. "You're a-" Simon grabbed Tori's arm and pulled her away with Liz trailing closely behind.

The people who had been around looked a little confused, but soon the crowd dissipated and all that stood left was Rae looking down at her hand. Chloe approached her, "What did you do to her?"

Rae's eyes were glazed with fear. She gritted her teeth and shook her head, she turned and walked off. Chloe headed over in the direction that Tori, Simon and Liz had gone in and found them entering the nurse's office. Chloe walked in and Liz was actually really angry looking as she whispered to Simon and Tori. "What the hell was that? Did she do that?"

The cup of pencils shook and flew into the wall beside them. Chloe squeaked out in surprise and Liz stared at the wall in shock. "I must've ah, hit that in my rant, I'm sorry guys." Liz squatted and started to pick up the pencils and pens lying on the ground and carefully put it back in the cup as if nothing had happened, despite the fact that her hands were shaking.

Chloe was almost positive that the cup had flown on its own. There was no way that Liz had hit it with her hand. But Liz really wanted to ignore the fact that it had happened because as the nurse came showed the nurse Tori's arm and everyone watched as the nurse's eyes widened, "How did this happen?"

She grasped Tori's arm gingerly in her hands and went through the procedure of what to do in dealing with a mild burn. Tori winced, "It was just ah stupid magnifying glass accident, got distracted and yeah this happened."

The nurse looked less than convinced but didn't say a word. As Chloe took in the burn she almost gasped, it looked like a hand print, like the print of someone gripping her arm, just like Rae had. When the nurse let Tori go, Chloe walked with them quietly through the hall, lunch was nearly over by now. She turned to the three, where Tori and Simon seemed to be quiet in thought, while Liz was visibly fuming.

"How did Rae burn you Tori?" Chloe asked timidly from their side.

Tori turned toward her and shook her head. Simon lifted his head and spoke to her instead, "She probably had a lighter in her hand or something."

Chloe looked down at the tiles in the floor. She knew that he was lying to her. She had seen Rae's hands before and after she had touched Tori. There was no trace of a lighter being there at all. Hearing the bell ring overhead, Chloe walked off in the direction of the library and sat down at a table a few behind Derek's normal one.

Getting out her homework she started it robotically, doing the problems as best as she could without really caring or really thinking about it.

"You're doing it wrong."

She lifted her head at the comment and stared at Derek in confusion seeing him, still somewhat bruised up in front of her. He never sat with her normally, if at all unless he needed to. Chloe tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, "Okay, so what do I do then?"

Chloe listened as Derek told her exactly what she needed to do in probably the most simple of terms she had heard all year in any of her math classes. By the end of his short explanation, she was ready to smack herself in the face. If only she had a teacher who could put it all so simply. "Thank you, I honestly think I can understand it a little better now."

Derek shrugged and went back to work on his own homework and stayed silent. Chloe raised her head again and flinched as she saw Liam sitting at a table not too far off with his friend Ramon. She looked away and back at Derek. Chloe smiled a little, feeling a bit happier that he had sat with her, because if he hadn't it was more likely than not that Liam would've come over.

Going back to her work, Chloe was in a state of focus as she worked on the problems. She sighed tiredly as she finished the last problem and looked up from her paper. Haley stood not too far away and smiled weakly at her. She came closer and Chloe's heart sank.

Haley's expression darkened seriously, "You need to be careful. Something bad is going to happen soon. I'm not sure what, but it's really bad."

Chloe wanted to respond, but she couldn't really with Derek sitting right in front of her. She stared at Haley and frowned.

Sighing, Haley rubbed the back of her head. "I think someone's going to die, Chloe. Something that bad is going to happen, there are bad people here, and they're everywhere." Her image started to waver some, Haley's eyes widened. "Chloe stop taking the meds, don't take anymore than you already are okay?"

Her image disappeared completely.

Chloe groaned and laid her head down on the table in frustration. What kind of conversation was that? Something bad was going to happen? Great. Chloe was gonna lose it with so much of this crap going on. She heard footsteps by her table and looked up to see Liam with Ramon standing in front of her and Derek.

She stood, stumbling out of her chair and gulped as Derek calmly or at least tried to look calm despite his tense figure as he put his things together and stood with her.

Liam grinned through his usual gleaming white teeth and now newly bruised face. "Chloe, you know, yesterday did not turn out the way it was supposed to."

Derek stood in front of her, "You need to leave her alone. I would've thought after yesterday you would have figured it out."

Liam's smile didn't falter, "Pup's getting a bit cocky now isn't he? Why are you so protective, you into her too?"

Chloe looked over at Derek for a moment, knowing full well that it couldn't be the case. But mostly, she wanted to know why he kept calling him a pup, it was weird. Liam took a step closer and Chloe stayed close to Derek.

"So you are, must be if you go to this much trouble to protect her." Liam laughed, "Why don't you just leave her to me, I'll take good care of her. Someone like her won't do any better anyways."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chloe demanded despite herself.

Liam's expression was more than amused, "Oh nothing, cutie. Don't you worry your pretty little head."

Derek glared and suddenly kicked Liam in the balls and elbowed Ramon in the face. As soon as they were stunned he turned and grabbed Chloe's arm, pulling her along as they left the library and out of the door. She turned to look back and could hear Liam growling and cursing in anger and was sure that he was following with Ramon not too far behind.

"Where are we going?" She whispered to him as they ran right out the front doors of the school without anyone to see or stop them.

"Be quiet." Derek said gruffly and pulled her along the sidewalk. He looked back behind them and around the area. His nose flared and his eyes widened as he turned to the woods where a huge wolf came and jumped right on top of him. Chloe couldn't stop the scream that escaped her throat. It was the same wolf she had seen in the woods before.

Derek kicked it off and cursed. He got up quickly and took Chloe's hand, running with her as far as they could before Ramon grabbed Chloe and the wolf had pinned Derek again where they rolled into the woods entrance. Chloe screamed and tears streamed down her face as the wolf attacked Derek. She kicked and tried to bite at Ramon's arm, "Get if off him! It'll kill him!"

Ramon laughed from behind her as he held her tight. "It's supposed to. We don't need anymore Pup's around here than there already are."

Chloe couldn't focus, she was losing it, her chest hurt and her eyes were clouded with tears. She couldn't watch him die in front of her, it couldn't happen. She yelled for help, but Ramon's dirty hand covered her mouth. She tried to bite him but he took his hand off and smacked her. Chloe's head was in so much pain, it was jumbled to pieces. She stopped struggling and thought back to what Haley had said. _Was this what she had meant?_ She wondered. Watching as Derek did his best to keep the wolf's fangs away from his face her heart clenched, all he had been doing lately was helping her, saving her from Liam and she couldn't do anything for him.

She cried and cried, kicking and moving as much as possible. Suddenly there was a roar and everything went silent. The wolf on top of Derek jumped off and growled at the bear standing in front of them. Chloe prayed for it to attack the wolf instead of Derek. Hoped it would get the wolf away from him. The bear roared again and ran at the wolf. But its eyes latched onto Chloe's, those eyes burned with an angry hate that she hadn't ever seen in an animal before. Ramon was in enough shock that his grip loosened. Chloe used it to her advantage and reared her head back and felt the connection as Ramon cursed and held onto his face.

Derek scrambled up from the ground and tackled Ramon, hitting him enough times in the face until Ramon stopped fighting back. Chloe looked back at the bear and screamed seeing that most of its ribs were exposed and decayed. She pushed down the nauseating feeling in her stomach and stumbled back as it came toward her. The bear looked at her with those hateful eyes and she tripped, falling back onto the forest floor. Derek stood and grabbed onto her shoulders trying to pull her away but the bear tried to swipe its decayed paws at him.

He fell back and Chloe moved back into him, "What is it?!" She exclaimed and gripped Derek's leg. "Get up, we h-have to get up!"

Derek pulled them farther away but stopped, the bear was too close and the tree behind them was pressed into Derek's back, there wasn't much of an escape. He gripped her arm, "You have to release it Chloe."

She looked back at him ludicrously, "I didn't do this!" She cried.

"Yes you did Chloe, just try, you have to release it or it's going to kill us." Derek said as calmly as he could, his grip was tightening on her arm enough to hurt.

She gulped and closed her eyes. Chloe could smell the breath of death from the bear and turned her face into Derek's chest. He rubbed her back as she clutched him tightly, "Just focus," He whispered.

Chloe closed her eyes tight and imagined the bear being forced out of its body, being shoved somewhere else, somewhere far, far away. She tried and tried to push it away, to make it as gone as possible, but all she could hear was the awful growling and angry roar of the bear at her ear. Chloe hiccupped and hugged Derek tightly, clutching onto him so tightly that she was sure she'd leave her own bruises on him. Nothing could seem to calm her. She didn't want to die like this especially when the growling and the smell of the bear grew stronger. She sent it one last hard shove and heard a thump as the bears body collapsed onto the ground.

"You did it." He mumbled and sighed in what seemed like relief.

Slowly letting go of him, Chloe moved and sat down beside him against the tree, exhaling loudly. "I guess I am a necromancer." She mumbled and closed her eyes.

Derek was quiet for a moment as they sat there, the rancid smell of the dead bear wafting around them. "I'm sorry, Chloe."

Chloe opened her eyes and raised a brow at him, "Why?"

His green eyes went to her arm. She looked down and saw a bruise forming; a bruise that looked like the grip of a hand, his hand. Her eyes widened, "Wow," But she shook her head, "It's okay, you didn't mean to."

Derek avoided her eyes and stood. "Just because I didn't mean to, doesn't mean its okay. I'm sure you know about that kid's back. That was an accident too, but he won't ever be the same again."

Chloe got up and followed him as he started to walk. "This is different, I'm okay. It's just a bruise and I know that you have way more than one bruise from helping me."

He stopped and turned toward her, "I could've really hurt you, Chloe. I could've shattered your arm. I'm dangerous."

She frowned, "I doubt that you're more dangerous than Liam is, you wouldn't hurt me like he would."

Derek's gaze pierced through her, "Liam and I are more alike than you'd think."

**Well that's the end of that chapter ;) Hope you guys enjoyed it, let me know what you guys think, or what you really want to happen or what kind of things you want to happen and all that fun stuff. **

**Please REVIEW! ;)**

**-Vanessa:D **


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